As reported, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, published an address on the occasion of the third anniversary of the UOC Council, which was held on May 27, 2022, in Feofaniya. The Primate emphasized that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has all the attributes of an independent structure, and therefore expects that this status of the UOC will be supported by the Local Churches.
“There is still no gap”: religious scholar criticizes Metropolitan Onufriy's statement on UOC independence
Oleksandr Sagan, a lobbyist for the OCU, head of the Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, commented on the statement of Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine on the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The religious scholar is convinced that the Primate of the UOC makes such statements in order to divert attention from the fact that the Church has not severed relations with the Russian Orthodox Church. He said this in a commentary to Glavkom.
«Such statements for unprepared people may have some appearance that there is indeed some kind of «break in relations» with Moscow. Although it is clear that there has been no break up to date. The addressees of this statement by Onufriy are both internal and external audiences. The UOC-MP will again engage its lobbyists to appeal to international human rights institutions to put pressure on the church. And inside the country, they will assure everyone that they have created all the conditions for independence from Moscow,» — Sagan said.
Read also
