Metropolitan Oleksiy of Voznesensk testified that there was no external pressure on the Council in Theophany

The hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Oleksiy of Voznesensk and Pervomaysk, as a direct participant in the Theophany Council, issued a statement in which he denied allegations of external pressure on its organization. He emphasized that the convening of the Council was solely an internal initiative of the clergy and believers, and its decisions were made freely, without any coercion.

In his statement, the hierarch noted that the Council took place at a difficult time for the Church and the Ukrainian people, when the war posed new challenges to the faithful. «The convocation of the Council was not the result of any external pressure or interference of state bodies, as some people try to claim, » Metropolitan Oleksiy said.

According to him, the initiative to hold the church council came directly from the church environment. Hierarchs, clergy, monastics and laity from different dioceses appealed to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufryi with a request to give a cathedral answer to pressing issues. Metropolitan emphasized that «there was no coercion or imposed decisions».

Separately, Vladyka Oleksiy testified to the position of the Primate of the UOC: «His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy would never have blessed the Council if there had been even the slightest external pressure.» In conclusion, he called the Council in Theophany an important testimony to the spiritual responsibility and internal freedom of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Earlier Metropolitan of Cherkassy and Kanev Feodosiy (Snigiryov) said that the Council in Theophany in 2022 was held under pressure from the secret services. The bishop noted that the hierarchs of the UOC were threatened by people «in shoulder straps» before participating in the council, demanding that they make «necessary decisions».