"UOC priests want to convince people that we will allegedly break the agreements," — OCU "bishop"

The head of the Chernivtsi diocese of the OCU, Feognost Bodoryak, stated that the issue of religious communities transitioning from the UOC to the OCU remains relevant in Bukovina, particularly in areas populated by Romanian-speaking residents. According to him, some Romanian-speaking parishioners who previously belonged to the UOC are hesitant: should they remain with the UOC, join the OCU, or turn to the Romanian Orthodox Church? He shared this in an interview with the publication Shpalta.

«I doubt that the Romanian Orthodox Church would want to violate the canons and create its own church in another country. They are not Russians,» Feognost remarked.

He also noted that in villages where the majority of the population is Romanian-speaking, the issue of transition is especially sensitive. However, in mixed communities — where both Romanians and Ukrainians live — there is no pressing need for a Romanian vicariate.

«Romanian-speaking believers sometimes come to us at the Cathedral of Saint Paraskeva. I once asked if there was a need to conduct part of the liturgy in Romanian. They clearly said there was no such need,» Bodoryak said.

In Chernivtsi, services in Romanian are already conducted by priest Georgiy Basaraba, an ethnic Romanian, in the chapel of the Burial Vault of the Bukovinian Metropolitans. The city council handed over the chapel to the OCU last year, and the first service was held there in October.

«People come, but we understand that this is not a parish — it is a chapel in the middle of a cemetery. How did the UOC even open a parish there if they have no documents or necessary permits?» Bodoryak added.

The head of the Chernivtsi diocese of the OCU emphasized that the main purpose of the vicariate is to give believers confidence that their language and traditions will be preserved. However, even without the vicariate, the community has the right to join the OCU:
«UOC priests want to convince people that we will allegedly break the agreements or demand that services be conducted only in Ukrainian. But I state with authority — this is a myth. We will not prohibit that which the vicariate was created for in the first place,» Feognost Bodoryak concluded.

Earlier we reported that the head of the Chernivtsi diocese of the OCU, Feognost Bodoryak, admitted that the so-called Romanian Vicariate within the OCU is effectively a fictitious organization. According to him, since 2019, not a single Romanian-speaking parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Bukovina has joined the Romanian Vicariate of the OCU, despite the fact that the structure is directly subordinate to Epiphaniy Dumenko.