UOC Chancellor: Less than 1% of all communities voluntarily passed to OCU
Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanych) said that autocephaly in Ukraine did not receive tangible support among the Orthodox.
Only 2 bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from 100 and 68 communities out of 12,000 have transferred to the OCU, said the UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich)of Borispol and Brovary.
“This is less than 1%,” said the hierarch in an interview with the Greek Internet resource Sputnik.
According to His Eminence, autocephaly did not find serious support among the church people in Ukraine. But the granting of the Tomos to dissenters intensified the persecution of priests and parishioners of the UOC.
“It hurts that a hasty and ill-advised step along the line of bestowing autocephaly to Ukraine came down like a ton of bricks on the destinies of many ordinary priests and believers who are now beaten, driven out of churches, in every way persecuted for their desire to remain faithful to their Church and their faith,” stressed Metropolitan Anthony. “Certainly, their pain and their sufferings are a heavy burden of responsibility on the shoulders of those who initiated and organized this entire adventure with the receiving of the Tomos.”
Earlier, Metropolitan Anthony expressed the hope that the new President will stop discrimination against the UOC. He also noted that no Local Church recognizes the OCU.
