> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://uoj.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Metr. Theodosy: Leaked Chronicle Offers Most Candid Account of OCU’s Creation - URL: https://uoj.news/metr-theodosy-leaked-chronicle-offers-most-candid-account-of-ocus-creation/ - Published: 2026-10-05T16:46:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-05T17:25:41.000Z - Description: The UOC hierarch says a report compiled by a Constantinople cleric for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew shows that the OCU’s creation was driven by political negotiations and state pressure rather than normal Church processes. - Author: Aaron Hickman - Tags: Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv, Ukraine Schism, Church and State, Petro Poroshenko, Persecution of the Church, Patriarchate of Constantinople, UOC, OCU **OCT. 5, 2026 —** The [recently published chronicle](https://uoj.news/news/leaked-church-document-poroshenko-ukrainian-security-services-pressured-2018-unification-council/) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine’s (OCU) creation provides the most candid account to date of how the structure was established, Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kaniv [told UOJ-Ukraine](https://spzh.eu/en/news/96242-this-is-not-how-freedom-is-done-met-theodosiy-on-secret-phanar-report?fbclid=IwdGRleAUwm79leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBWZkaWQWUPs6D4W5MlU4t0KHN18czbJU26S1rnNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR5EvwjxaPjdpAkWy%5FZRQHM9Y55clUEsocLp5%5FJ80JpsLChiU9x3yNROAjYotw%5Faem%5Fq2q-177ijXQjQe2AtiQHMg). The more-than-20-page document – which was leaked to the Union of Orthodox Journalists of America – was compiled by a Constantinople cleric who participated in the events surrounding the December 2018 “unification council" and subsequently reported them to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Metropolitan Theodosy emphasized that the document was not produced by opponents of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. [![](https://uoj.news/content/images/2026/09/819483085_1669358271274842_8700875760581331802_n.jpg)On this topicMetr. Theodosy Addresses UN Council Over Mobilization of UOC Clergy](https://uoj.news/news/metr-theodosius-addresses-un-council-over-mobilization-of-uoc-clergy/) “First of all, I want to emphasize that the published chronicle is not an exposé written by the Phanar’s enemies. It is a report that a Constantinople cleric proudly wrote to his Patriarch. That makes his testimony all the more valuable: no one has given a more candid account of how the OCU was created than its own creators,” the hierarch said. According to Metropolitan Theodosy, the chronicle describes extensive involvement by Ukrainian state officials, including then-President Petro Poroshenko and security services, in negotiations surrounding the council and the structure of the future OCU. > “What do we see? A delegation of the Church of Constantinople forced to communicate through written notes because the security services are monitoring every word. Bishops taken under police escort to the president and told that they are being detained. A telephone conversation in which the fate of ‘autocephaly’ is decided not by the canons, but through bargaining over one man’s signature and talk of a military threat.” The metropolitan rejected the longstanding presentation of the OCU as the result of a freely expressed desire for ecclesiastical independence among Ukrainians. “But this is not how freedom is done. This is how a political project is put together, with the Church needed merely as a backdrop. In fact, back in 2018, the political strategists working for the then president openly told us that the ‘united local church’ project was an election campaign strategy. The report that has now emerged merely confirms this,” he stressed. Metropolitan Theodosy also highlighted the role of Poroshenko in the negotiations, noting that representatives of the presidential administration participated in discussions over the charter of the future church, while negotiations with the former schismatic leader – Filaret Denysenko of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate – took place in the president’s office with the head of Ukraine’s security service present. “When the ‘council’ itself runs into a snag, a man in military uniform approaches the president, and it is the president who restores order. Then it is he, rather than the Church assembly, who brings the elected ‘primate’ out to the people in the square,” the hierarch said. Metropolitan Theodosy further pointed to an exchange with Turkey’s ambassador to Ukraine, who reportedly questioned whether the Ukrainian president’s involvement infringed upon the rights of the Church. According to the chronicle, the Constantinople delegation responded that Poroshenko’s presence was “unifying.” “So it turns out that a Muslim diplomat – a secular man outside the Orthodox Church – saw the problem more clearly than those who were supposed to safeguard the Church canons,” His Eminence said. Another detail cited by Metropolitan Theodosy concerns the dissolution of the schismatic structures of the Kyiv Patriarchate and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church before the council. According to the chronicle, the Constantinople delegation sought to ensure that participants had no “way to retreat” and were “bound.” “This is not how you treat brothers in Christ whom you are leading toward repentance and the healing of schism," he said. "This is what you do when you need to achieve a predetermined result at any cost." He also addressed claims that the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) would participate in the council. According to the chronicle, Ukrainian security officials had assured the Constantinople delegation that “many” UOC representatives would attend, while promises of protection were reportedly conveyed to UOC clergy “in the strictest secrecy.” “Two bishops came," Metropolitan Theodosy said. "Neither pressure nor promises could force the episcopate and the people of God to abandon their Church. Over the past eight years, the pressure has increased many times over, yet not a single additional bishop has joined the OCU. That is the best answer to the question of where the Church is in Ukraine and where there is merely a semblance of one." The hierarch concluded that the chronicle demonstrates the consequences of combining political objectives with ecclesiastical decisions. “Politics is politics, and canon law is canon law. When the two are mixed, what emerges is not a Church but a legalized schism,” he said. Metropolitan Theodosy also recalled that, according to the chronicle, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew acknowledged during a telephone conversation that Ukraine was “not ready for autocephaly.” “And it became ‘ready’ only after the then president deceitfully wrested the coveted signature from the unfortunate Filaret Denysenko,” the metropolitan added. > “We bear no ill will toward any of those who took part in those events, and we pray that the Lord will show all of them the path to the truth. But the Church cannot pretend that nothing happened. However much unseemly details may be hidden or embellished, they will still come to light. Truly, ‘there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought out into the open.'" The December 15, 2018, council was held at St. Sophia of Kyiv with the participation of then-President Poroshenko. Serhii Dumenko, now known as Metropolitan Epiphany, was elected head of the newly created OCU. Two UOC bishops — Metropolitan Simeon (Shostatskyi) and Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) — participated in the gathering. On January 6, 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew presented Dumenko with the Tomos of Autocephaly. Several months later, Filaret said that Poroshenko and Epiphany had deceived him regarding his expected role in the new structure and subsequently announced the “restoration” of the Kyiv Patriarchate. As a result of the creation of the OCU, persecution of the UOC has intensified. Metropolitan Theodosy himself has suffered the [seizure](https://spzh.eu/en/news/82530-unknown-individuals-in-camouflage-seize-cherkasy-cathedral-on-the-second-try) of his cathedral through the work of OCU activists and the Ukrainian government. In 2024, he was hospitalized with a concussion and other injuries after being beaten during the church seizure. Videos can be seen below. 0:00 /0:14 1× 0:00 /0:14 1× 0:00 /0:31 1× Previously, the UOJ [reported](https://uoj.news/news/i-was-in-a-state-of-unspeakable-anxiety/) that President Poroshenko had detained the Ecumenical Patriarchate's delegation during negotiations and had barred them from leaving the country.