Metropolitan Yevstratiy Zorya of the OCU: Moscow Patriarchate employs wait-and-see tactics

22 January, 15:20
Orthodox
Metropolitan Yevstratiy Zorya of the OCU: Moscow Patriarchate employs wait-and-see tactics - фото 1
Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate impede the transfer of communities to the OCU, in particular by using physical force against parishioners.

Metropolitan Yevstratiy Zorya, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the OCU, stated this in a comment for Espreso.

“I would not say that it has become easier, for we talk about a multi-stage procedure. Legally, it is not easy for the community to go through all the stages. Moreover, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate are trying to prevent the community from implementing their decision by all means possible: from preventing the community from holding a meeting to sabotaging the decision already made,” he said.

The Metropolitan noted that even with the changes to the charter already registered, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate create obstacles: they physically prevent the community from entering the church and organize violent confrontations and various legal disputes.

“Truth be told, it should be expected that when communities begin to receive an order already defined by law to sever ties with religious organizations with a governing center in the aggressor country (i.e., the Russian Federation with the Moscow Patriarchate), this issue will be clearly, specifically and quite acutely raised by the communities,” Zorya said.

In total, more than 200 communities have left the UOC-MP to join the OCU in 2024.