Metropolitan Mefodii (Kudriakov) of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church does not view the transfer of Bishops Ioan (Shvets) and Adrian (Kulyk) to the Kyivan Patriarchate as a tragedy.
Metropolitan Mefodii (Kudriakov) of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church does not view the transfer of Bishops Ioan (Shvets) and Adrian (Kulyk) to the Kyivan Patriarchate as a tragedy. The church simply got rid of a ballast, the Primate said in an interview to Channel 5.
In particular, the metropolitan reminded that Bishop Ioan of the Lviv-Sambir Eparchy of UAOC once was part of the Kyivan Patriarchate and when he expressed a wish to transfer to UAOC, they even doubted if it was worth while admitting him.
“We admitted him, sent him to the Lviv Eparchy and gave him great opportunities. However, during his two years of service, he was not able to establish a single parish. He did not have anything there. He came to us without anything and left with God without anything. I can tell frankly, he did not transfer anyone. For he did not have anything,” he said.
“We say when we admit anyone, and during church life we say: 'If you do not like it, leave with God!' Who needs ballast? Better to have five worthy persons than five hundred who are not sure what they want… The main thing for us is to preserve the ideology of UAOC. For it is the heart of independent Ukraine,” stressed the hierarch.
As he commented on the situation in the Khmelnytsk Eprachy, the Primate said that Bishop Adrian had only a few parishes and, therefore, his transfer will not affect UAOC.