Metropolitan Fedir of Poltava and Kremenchuk, while on a visit to the Kremenchuk Church of Seraphim of Sary, told journalists about the local diocese being replenished with new parishes and whether there are enough priests to serve.
He says that the process of the transition of communities from the UOC (MP) to the OCU goes really slowly as it is being hindered by Moscow Patriarchate, which restrains priests, who, in turn, influence parishioners, writes Kremenchutska Hazeta.
“The driving force behind these processes is the people themselves. They want to transition, they constantly reach out to us from their villages and towns. Recently, there was a transition in the town of Shyshaky,” says Bishop Fedir.
At the same time, he notes that the transition of communities from the UOC (MP) to the OCU sometimes causes conflict.
“I’d say that I was not the only one who noticed this. My colleagues noticed this, too: as soon as the situation on our front, in the war, became unstable, the process of transitions stopped. That’s because the priests from the Moscow Patriarchate, although they deny that they are no longer with Moscow, are aware that, if, God forbid, the invaders come, the only denomination that will remain in the occupied territories is the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. And that’s why this is also a restraining factor,” commented the bishop.
He also notes that the OCU lacks priests.
“The fact that we lack priests is a fact, it’s no secret. You know that the Ukrainian church was in the minority, they did not give us any land plots, they constantly oppressed us. This can be seen even in Kremenchuk. The ratio of Moscow priests to Ukrainian ones here is 40 to seven… Today we need chaplains for the front lines, we need priests now. But we are addressing the issue. We have educational facilities, we ordain priests from among parishioners and believers, trying to meet these needs. Today, for example, there are about 15 deacons in the Poltava diocese. These are people who are preparing to become priests and serve in all these parishes,” Metropolitan Fedir of Poltava and Kremenchuk noted.
