OCU accuses ROC of "creating non-canonical structures" and calls for trial of Patriarch Kirill

The Synod of the OCU issued a statement accusing the Russian Orthodox Church of «illegally creating» its structures on the «canonical territory of the OCU» and other Local Churches. In this regard, the OCU called for a church trial of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

According to the organization’s press service, this statement was adopted at a meeting of the OCU Synod on November 7, 2025. The statement was an official response to a letter from Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople regarding the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa.

The OCU expressed solidarity with the position of Constantinople, condemning «the creation of Russian schismatic structures by the Moscow Patriarchate on the African continent, which is the exclusive canonical territory of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.» The statement emphasizes that such actions are not an isolated case.

«The Church of Russia illegally creates its anti-canonical structures on the territory of other Churches, in particular, on the territory of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Romanian Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,» the document says. The Synod of the OCU decided that «the false teachings of the ‘Russian world'» and the anti-canonical practice of the Russian Orthodox Church are subject to general condemnation, and Patriarch Kirill «is subject to church trial and final deposition from the throne of Moscow.»

Earlier, we reported that the Primate of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church sent a complaint to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople related to the invasion of the OCU into the canonical territory of the PAOC. The protest is related to the creation of so-called chaplaincy missions by the OCU in Poland, under the guise of which Ukrainian schismatics open full-fledged parishes.