It is worth noting that the OCU, which claims to be equal among the Local Orthodox Churches, continues to violate its own Tomos and the canonical territory of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. On February 9, 2025, despite the Tomos’ ban on the activities of the OCU abroad, the head of the Rivne Diocese of the OCU, Hilarion Protsyk, visited Warsaw, where he held religious events that were clearly not coordinated with the OCU.
Phanar hierarch criticizes head of OCU for violation of Tomos
The head of the American Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Archbishop Elpidophoros, criticized Epiphany Dumenko for violating certain clauses of the Tomos of autocephaly of the OCU. Elpidophoros noted that the head of the OCU turns a blind eye to the fact that representatives of the organization open parishes abroad, despite the fact that the Tomos explicitly prohibits the OCU from doing so. This is reported by the UOJ with reference to Ekirikas.
According to the publication, at a meeting of the Synod, which took place on April 10, 2025, Archbishop Elpidophoros said that the head of the OCU, while in the United States in February 2025, “was not in a cooperative mood” and refused to concelebrate with him, instead giving preference to a small Ukrainian community that is subordinate to the Ukrainian hierarchs Daniel and Anthony (UOC in the United States as part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople).
When asked by Archbishop Elpidophoros why the OCU creates communities and parallel jurisdictions abroad, despite the fact that this is expressly prohibited by the Tomos of autocephaly, Epiphany Dumenko replied that he cannot control the representatives of the OCU abroad.
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