OCU spokesman denies rumors that Dumenko does not receive UOC bishops

OCU spokesman Yevstratiy Zorya officially denied the information that the head of the Ukrainian schism, Epiphany Dumenko, allegedly refused to accept five bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. According to him, these rumors are a deliberate campaign beneficial to the leadership of the UOC to disrupt the dialogue on unity.

Commenting on the situation on the Viche YouTube channel, Yevstratiy Zoria said that he personally clarified this issue with Epiphany Dumenko.«The rumors that five bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate approached Metropolitan Epifaniy and he did not accept them are not true,» he emphasized. Zoria explained that there were indeed contacts, but mostly through intermediaries. Those who applied in person were accepted for communication, but there were no further steps on their part.

According to the OCU spokesperson, the spread of such rumors is a well-established scheme aimed at «making Metropolitan Epifaniy guilty of the fact that there is no movement towards dialogue and unity.»

In conclusion, Zoria emphasized that since His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry came to the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a full-fledged dialogue with the schismatics has ceased, except for communication with those hierarchs who later joined the OCU. He also extended an open invitation to all interested bishops of the UOC to come to St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery to discuss pressing issues.

Recently, MP Rostyslav Pavlenko, who oversaw the process of obtaining the Tomos of autocephaly for the OCU, revealed the details of the negotiations between the fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. According to him, the granting of the Tomos became possible only after the Ukrainian side gave guarantees of fulfillment of three key conditions, the main of which was the prevention of religious hatred and seizures of churches.