Epiphany: OCU is recognized by other Autocephalous Churches
Epiphany Dumenko is sure that OCU is recognized not only by Phanar but also by other Local Churches and transition of UOC communities to OCU occurs on the basis of love.
Head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko is confident that his structure is recognized by other Local Churches. He stated this on April 13 at a briefing during his visit to Khmelnitsky.
“In fact, we live in a historical time when the Church became independent, the Church became autocephalous and recognized by other Autocephalous Churches,” said Dumenko. “We occupy our honorable 15th place.”
The head of the OCU also assured those present that there is no threat of losing the Tomos: “There is no threat of revoking the Tomos or losing it at all. And it does not depend on the political situation."
In addition, Epiphany Dumenko said that in the Khmelnitsky region more than 70 UOC communities had transferred to the OCU and stressed that these transitions take place solely on the basis of love: “This process should be peaceful, calm, and each community should voluntarily make up their mind without any coercion. It is our vision that everything should be based on love.”
Recall, the OCU is not recognized by any Local Church, except for Phanar which granted the Tomos on autocephaly to Epiphany Dumenko.
Almost every day there are reports of raider seizures of the UOC churches in the villages of Ukraine. Priests and believers talk about frauds, illegal re-registration of UOC communities as the OCU ones, as well as beatings of the clergy and UOC believers by representatives of the Dumenko structure.
