OCU spokesman Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zorya) summed up the results of the Ecumenical Patriarch's visit to Ukraine.
"While the visit of the patriarch lasted, I had no desire to talk much about the negative. But now it's worth it", the hierarch wrote on his Facebook page.
"1. Komsomol-styled anti-Church round dances from Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine/Lay People looked pathetic. Like party meetings in the late Brezhnev era. Well, what else can you expect from cheap extras collected for 150 UAH/day?
2. The opponents of the visit couldn't come up with anything original. Everything looked either a parody of the protests of Orthodox Ukrainians against the visits of Moscow Patriarchs Alexy and Kirill or the "Union of Militant Atheists".
Well, in fact: "Tomos from the laity "was clearly inspired by the same spirit as the "Bible for Believers and non-Believers" by Yemelian Yaroslavsky.
3. Why did the organizers deceive their own followers by taking them to the grave of Soviet General Vatutin? As if shouting with placards could have bothered someone. Didn't the Lavra know on the first day of the visit that the Patriarch did not stay in the state residence on Lipsky street? But it is necessary to bring some people somewhere - so they brought them under the Rada, imitating protests.
4. In order to somehow justify their helplessness, the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine were quick to declare the absence of the Patriarch at the "prayer for Ukraine" in St Sophia to be their "victory".
However, that said:
a) the Patriarch met with members of the Council of Churches the day before and had a very warm and sincere conversation. In fact, only representatives of the MP did not attend. They did not go to the council meeting with Pope John Paul II either;
b) the Patriarch has already prayed for Ukraine in St Sophia with thousands of OCU faithful on Sunday, leading the liturgy together with the OCU Metropolitan.
What he actually did was prayer. Unlike Metropolitan Onufriy, he didn't just come to read the ritual phrases of congratulations.
So why would the patriarch go to Sofia again-only as a guest?
c) Moreover, at the same time, he had a meeting in the Cabinet of ministers with Prime Minister Shmygal, who also had a busy schedule and only this time turned out to be free.
And the "Prayer for Ukraine" itself was an internal event, where there were no foreign guests.
Therefore, this is not a "victory" of the MP, but their "good face for a bad game".
5. Having promised not to visit the place where the Patriarch will be present, the leaders of the MP did not keep this promise either. They were on the podium of the parade - just like the Patriarch was.
6. The situation became even more comical when the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine humbly waited for the Patriarch to leave the presidential reception - and only then did they attend it.
7. The Patriarch departed from Ukraine very inspired. His personal experience of communication, all things he saw and heard only confirmed that the decisions made were correct and no amount of persuasion or intimidation of Moscow will change anything.
Society and the state took the visit very positively. And all the round dances were definitely interpreted as Moscow buck jumps.
Therefore, the result is exactly the opposite of what was expected in the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.
In the video: Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine supporters sing an Akathist in front of the state residence. And I blessed them from the window after their release to disperse in peace."