The head of the OCU called the Tomos of Autocephaly of the Macedonian Church “non-canonical”

The head of the OCU, Epiphanius Dumenko, declared the Tomos of Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Macedonia to be “uncanonical.” Dumenko claims that the Macedonian Church illegally gained independence from the Serbian Church and “entered into an alliance with the Moscow Patriarchate.” The head of the OCU is convinced that the Russian Orthodox Church plans to implement the same scenario in Ukraine. He stated this in a report read at a meeting of the OCU hierarchy.

“We categorically cannot allow the situation that has now developed with the Church in North Macedonia to be repeated with the Ukrainian Church. After receiving the restoration of ecclesiastical communion from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it soon entered into an alliance with the Moscow Patriarchate and uncanonically accepted the so-called “Tomos” from the Serbian Patriarchate. Perhaps some people think that we are naive and blind and do not see how, under the guise of various initiatives, the allies of the Moscow Patriarchate would like to destroy the real independence of our Local Church and its ability to counter the influence of the followers of the “Russian world.” They would like the Church of Ukraine to follow the path of North Macedonia. But we understand these intentions, we oppose them and will continue to oppose them,” – said the head of the Ukrainian schism.

Earlier, Dumenko criticized the Local Orthodox Churches that did not enter into communion with the Ukrainian schism. Dumenko claims that the situation is as such because some Local Churches have not yet made up their minds and are awaiting the outcome of the Russian-Ukrainian war, while others “depend on the Kremlin regime.”