“Communities and clergy have begun to realize that being affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate is toxic and undesirable in Ukraine,” Archimandrite Sofroniy Chupryna, spokesman for the Vinnytsia-Bar diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, told Suspilne.
“We have all seen a video where the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Cyril, blesses the Russian military for the war against Ukraine,” the priest said. “The clergy don’t want to commemorate (him – ed.) in prayers and belong to the jurisdiction that is destroying Ukraine and Ukrainians. Because of this, religious communities started switching to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
According to the spokesman, about 40 parishes and five clergymen have joined the diocese since February 24. Many others are in the process of joining.
It should be noted that as of the end of March, there were only 15 religious communities in Vinnytsia region that transferred to the OCU or were in the relevant process.
