The head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, believes that by holding a Council, the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate aimed at improving Ukrainian society’s attitude toward it, not at severing ties with the Russian Church, which is hostile to Ukraine.
The OCU primate said this on the air of the national telethon on Saturday, Liga reports.
“The purpose of the Council is to preserve status quo and change the attitude of Ukrainian society towards itself without severing relations with the Russian Orthodox Church and the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Cyril Gundyaev,” Epifaniy said.
“They continue to be united with the murderer, Patriarch Cyril, who allows killing Ukrainians. Unfortunately, they did not restore relations with the Ecumenical Patriarch, but on the contrary, confirmed all previous decisions. The de facto connection with Moscow remains, and de jure they want to avoid Law 2662, which is designed to rename them, as they have a governing center located in the aggressor country,” the metropolitan added.
At the same time, he stressed that the OCU strives for Orthodox unity in Ukraine and is ready for a dialogue with the UOC-MP from a clean slate: without preconditions and ultimatums.
It should be recalled that Moscow reacted to the UOC MP Council by saying they have not received any appeals, so they are “praying for unity.” The UOC-MP also announced a dialogue with the OCU, but first demanded that “the issue of the canonicity of the hierarchy be resolved.”
