UOC spokesman: Churches that recognize OCU begin to face internal problems

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich. Photo: a screenshot from Youtube

On November 5, 2020, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich said in an interview with “1Kozaktv” that every Local Orthodox Church that takes the path of recognizing the OCU faces internal problems.

The priest said that 4 metropolitans of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus who did not agree with the decision of the Primate Archbishop Chrysostomos to recognize Dumenko are "very authoritative and worthy hierarchs".

“Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol, a spiritual child of the Monk Paisios of Athos, a renowned preacher, heads one of the largest dioceses of the Church of Cyprus. Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos and Tylliria is the abbot of the Kykkos Monastery, as for us – the hegumen of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Then, Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamassos and Bishop Nicholas of Amathounta. They were joined by Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou, who, although he did not sign the letter, said that he recognizes His Beatitude Onuphry as the legitimate Metropolitan of Kyiv,” Father Nikolai said.

According to him, these hierarchs "express the opinion of the majority of believers and clergy". At the same time, the priest noted that “no one speaks out for Chrysostomos”, because “there is nothing to defend since there are no arguments that could justify the non-canonical actions of Archbishop Chrysostomos”.

Archpriest Nicholai emphasized that this situation testifies to the fact that “in any Church that takes the path of recognizing the OCU, internal problems emerge. We saw this in the cases of the Church of Alexandria, the Church of Greece, now Cyprus."

According to the priest, this situation arises for the reason that the decision to recognize the OCU is "non-church", and such decisions "need to be taken only in a church way".

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in the opinion of Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, decisions in the Church are made in a conciliar manner, and the truth is on the side of those four Cypriot metropolitans who opposed the sole decision of their Primate on the OCU.

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