Hieromonk Petro (Tsiura), who quit the UOC-MP to join the OCU and settled in a monastery in Lviv, explained why he could no longer remain with the Moscow Patriarchate.
That’s according to the Dukhovna Velych Lvova outlet.
“It would be blasphemous for me. Cyril was being further commemorated during services, nothing was being said about autocephaly, and I saw no positive signals about changes in the UOC circles. I realized that nothing would change there. How can you stay with the Russian Church, the head of which blesses the bloody war against Ukraine. How can this be combined: trying to be a true Christian and staying with the aggressor’s church?” Father Petro explained.
According to him, when Russia invaded Ukraine, he could no longer remain with the UOC-MP.
“Although I was impressed that on the first day of the invasion, Metropolitan Onufriy condemned Russia’s aggression and compared its actions to Cain’s sin, that was the end of it. I expected that my church would condemn Patriarch Cyril, who blesses this bloody war, and after that, we would go toward autocephaly and join the OCU,” he said.
According to him, the resolutions of the UOC-MP Council, which allegedly declared a break with the ROC, left room for maneuver.
“If you are a Christian without deceit, you must be sincere to the end. The decision of the Council is nothing, it’s very vague. Many things need to be clarified. There is not even a hint or mention of autocephaly, or at least that they are going for it. The UOC’s ‘independence and autonomy’ was tied to a 1990 letter from Moscow Patriarch Aleksiy II. But the letter states that the UOC is connected to world Orthodoxy through the ROC. It seems that the UOC has left room for maneuver… But I hope that the Lord will still lead them to dialogue and unification with the OCU,” said the priest.
