Such a call was made on March 24 in an address by the OCU Primate.
“Dozens of communities, a number of monasteries in various regions of Ukraine have already voluntarily and consciously fulfilled their canonical duty and followed the Tomos of autocephaly. Make your choice in favor of the Church and Ukraine,” the first hierarch addressed the clergy and the faithful of the UOC-MP.
The address of Metropolitan Epifaniy was shared by the OCU press service.
“Our prayer is also about the unity of the Orthodox Church. I reiterate the call of the Holy Synod to the brothers and sisters who are still subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate: let us unite around Kyiv, let us unite in the Local Orthodox Church of Ukraine! Don’t wait until you are given permission or instruction from Moscow – missiles and bombs that the Russian forces are now dropping on you with the deceptive blessing of Russian Orthodox Church leader Kirill are already the answer of the ‘Russian world.’ This answer is your shelled, burned, destroyed temples. This answer is Kirill’s silence on the crimes of the Russian army in Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and dozens of other cities and villages in Ukraine.”
“Dozens of communities, a number of monasteries in different regions of Ukraine have already voluntarily and consciously fulfilled their canonical duty and followed the Tomos of autocephaly. Make your choice in favor of the Church and Ukraine, in favor of the truth. The doors of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and our hearts are open to all of you!” the appeal reads.
