Since 2018, more than 1.9 thousand religious communities have moved from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). This was announced on the air of the national telethon by the head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, writes UNN.
Details
In general, since the Ecumenical Patriarch granted the Tomos on autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, more than 1.9 thousand parishes have moved from the Moscow Patriarchate to this church
The expert noted that this is more than the Polish, Albanian, Georgian, Cypriot, Czech Orthodox Churches combined. He also added that in terms of the transition, we are primarily talking about the fact that church communities in Ukraine cannot belong to a church that acts against Ukraine.
In this case, it is not so much about the transition as about the fact that religious communities cannot be part of a church that aims to destroy the Ukrainian state, culture, identity and does so openly, absolutely directly
He also explained that the communities that are joining the OCU are not required to change the rite of worship, the calendar or other things that are important to them.
The Ukrainian state does not want these communities to change the liturgy, or change the calendar, or theological decrees - this is absolutely not the case
Addition
Metropolitan Epifaniy believes that the Russian army will voluntarily leave Ukraine, as it happened in Syria. He is convinced that the Lord will create conditions when the Russian Federation will deal with internal problems.