According to the Tomos, this is possible, but I don't know if something like this is being prepared, - Bishop of Comana on the creation of an exarchate in Ukraine

The Exarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine, Bishop Mikhail Anishchenko of Komana, expressed his opinion on whether it is possible to create an additional Phanar exarchate in Ukraine, which could include priests and believers of the UOC after the ban on the Church. The hierarch said that although the Tomos of autocephaly of the OCU provides for such a possibility for the Patriarchate of Constantinople, he has no information that such an exarchate is being prepared. He said this in an interview with the YouTube channel «Viche».

«The Ecumenical Patriarchate, even after the granting of autocephaly in Ukraine, retains the right to exarchate and stavropegia. However, at the same time, in the historical perspective, this is not a way of punishing (the ROC — ed.), it is a fuse. We do not know what will happen next, but, in principle, technically, this possibility is spelled out in the Tomos. That is, we speak the language of documents,» Anishchenko said.

At the same time, according to the Phanar exarch, no such exarchates are being prepared for the UOC. «I do not know whether something like this is planned or being prepared. I do not know about it. […] As a human being, I can understand the desire for an exarchate. But we need to take into account that all the tools are already in place (autocephaly of the OCU — ed.). Why complicate the situation even more? Everything is not decided because we want it to be. It is decided for decades, centuries, and taking into account whether it will be useful. […] Even if such comfortable conditions are created, there will always be those who want even more comfortable conditions. This has always been the case,» he added.

As reported earlier, Serhiy Bortnik, a professor at the Kyiv Theological Seminary and Academy and an employee of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said that in 2022, after the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Feofaniya, the clergy of the UOC massively contacted the Exarch of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Ukraine, Bishop Mikhail (Anishchenko) of Komana, with a request to provide them with a canonical alternative.