Shostatsky complains to Athonites about "problems" with UOC priests

Simeon (Shostatsky) with the Athonites who concelebrated with Dumenko in Kyiv. Photo: orthodox.vinnica.ua

Simeon (Shostatsky), the former Metropolitan of the UOC and now the "hierarch" of the OCU, complained to the Athonite monks about "problems" from "his former fellow priests", reports the newspaper Religion Pravda.

After the concelebration with Dumenko and the head of Phanar in Kyiv, the brethren of the Athonite monasteries Xenophontos and Pantokratoros visited the city of Vinnytsia.

Hieromonk Nikita, a resident of the Pantokratoros monastery, spoke about the "splendid reception" and said that the "wonderful" Metropolitan Simeon (Shostatsky) "initially supports the new Autocephalous Church."

It is for this reason, says Hieromonk Nikita, that Shostatsky "faces many difficulties from his former fellow priests."

The abbot of Pantokratoros said that he “felt the miracle of God”, Who “resurrected the Ukrainian Church and stopped the schism that was devouring the faithful”.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that according to the secretary of the Vinnytsia Eparchy of the UOC, Archimandrite Arkady (Senchukovsky), out of 20 clergymen who backslid into schism along with the former Bishop Shostatsky, 4 have already returned to the fold of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In total, there were 280 clergy in the Vinnytsia diocese by the end of 2018.

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