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Dumenko Calls UOC’s Continued Existence a Challenge to Ukrainian Church Life
Dumenko renewed his call for the UOC to join the OCU while lamenting the absence of any official response to his latest unity initiative.
KYIV — Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) leader Epiphany Dumenko described the continued presence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) as a significant issue for religious life in Ukraine, stating that the matter continues to challenge efforts toward church unity.
Speaking during the OCU Bishops’ Council on July 14, Dumenko said there has been no official response from the UOC to the dialogue commission he established in February 2026 under the leadership of Simeon Shostatskyi. He said the commission had not received a reply from His Beatitude Metr. Onuphry or the leadership of the UOC, adding that previous appeals from the OCU had likewise gone unanswered.
As reported by UOJ-Ukraine, Dumenko again urged UOC bishops and faithful to accept the terms of the Tomos of autocephaly and unite around the “Kyiv See.” He also thanked those who have left what he described as the Moscow Patriarchate’s jurisdiction, characterizing that affiliation as uncanonical and spiritually harmful. According to Dumenko, Ukraine’s complete separation from what he called the “Russian world” is both necessary for the country and beneficial for the future of Orthodoxy in Ukraine.
Previously, the UOJ reported that the OCU declared the Filaret schism had ended.
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