Dumenko on UOC terms in dialogue with OCU: We will never agree to this
Dumenko stated that the OCU is a recognized Orthodox Church and will not accept an ultimatum from the UOC.
In an interview with nv.ua, the head of the OCU, Epifaniy Dumenko, said that the OCU would never enter into a dialogue on the terms of the UOC.
“We ourselves, on the eve of their Council (Council of the UOC on May 27, 2022, - Ed.), took the initiative to start a dialogue, but without any prerequisites, much less ultimatums. They seemed to respond, but gave us ultimatums (we are talking about the appeal of the UOC, where there are demands to stop ‘forceful seizure of churches and forced transfers of parishes of the UOC’ and ‘solve the issue of the canonicity of the hierarchy of the OCU’), which we will never agree to, because we are the recognized local Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” Dumenko said.
Recall that the Council of the UOC named the requisites for a possible dialogue with the OCU in which there were three points:
- cessation of the seizure of the UOC temples by Dumenko’s henchmen;
- re-ordination of the “hierarchs” of the OCU;
- awareness of inferiority of the OCU’s “autocephaly”.
As the UOJ reported earlier, the OCU called on the authorities to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
