Dumenko: In Time, Everyone in UOC Will ‘See the Light’ and Join OCU
"Epiphany" Dumenko claims that the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are in "spiritual captivity," so they do not want to join his structure.
KYIV — All parishes that are Orthodox throughout Ukraine will eventually be in the structure of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the head of the OCU, Serhiy "Epiphany" Dumenko, is convinced. He stated this in a comment to molbuk.ua, answering the question of how he assesses the pace of transition of communities in Bukovina to the OCU.
"This is an evolutionary process. We want everything to happen peacefully and calmly, but we see that the UOC arranges provocations," Dumenko said.
According to him, the communities themselves allegedly make decisions on the change of jurisdictions on their own. However, this takes some time.
"But we are not in a hurry. We live in our Ukrainian state. Therefore, gradually, all parishes that are Orthodox, not only in Bukovina, but throughout Ukraine, will be in the bosom of the recognized single local OCU. This is an irreversible process," the head of the OCU assured journalists.
He added that people who are in "spiritual captivity" need time to realize that there is a "need" for this.
"But gradually, many are seeing the light and joining the OCU," Dumenko said.
Previously, UOJ reported that Dumenko held a "liturgy" at the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy, which was forcefully seized from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
