> ## 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.

# OCU Outlet on Unification Council Chronicle: ‘Another Worthy Chapter in our History’
- URL: https://uoj.news/news/ocu-outlet-on-unification-council-chronicle-another-worthy-chapter-in-our-history/
- Published: 2026-10-13T17:50:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-13T18:27:15.000Z
- Description: OCU representatives have defended the 2018 detention of a Constantinople delegation as protection, while Metr. Gregorios’ account describes coercive treatment during the events leading to the church’s formation.
- Author: Tobias Straney
- Tags: #Category: News, Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine Schism, OCU, Patriarch Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch, Patriarchate of Constantinople, Church and State

**KYIV —** Representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) have portrayed the detention of a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Kyiv in 2018 as a necessary measure to protect its members from alleged threats from Moscow.

As [reported](https://spzh.eu/en/news/96348-ocu-rep-calls-2018-detention-of-phanar-delegation-protection-from-moscow) by UOJ-Ukraine, OCU bishop and spokesperson Eustratius Zoria [shared a post](https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story%5Ffbid=122328305870069818&id=61552094547753&mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=6rxHNiHnbcoS4aRb#) from the OCU-linked resource Ukraina Pravoslavna (English: Ukrainian Orthodoxy), which responded to the publication of a chronicle by Metr. Gregorios of Ankara, then a deacon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, describing events surrounding the December 2018 Unification Council. The post characterized the report as “another worthy page of our history."

[![](https://uoj.news/content/images/2026/09/shutterstock_1260080554.jpg)On this topicLeaked Church Document: Poroshenko, Ukrainian Security Services Pressured 2018 Unification Council](https://uoj.news/news/leaked-church-document-poroshenko-ukrainian-security-services-pressured-2018-unification-council/)

Referring to UOJ-America's publication of the chronicle, the OCU outlet – which is under Zoria's direct supervision – stated:

> *"The latest such attempt was the publication of an internal report by a member of the Ecumenical Patriarch’s delegation concerning preparations for the Unification Council. In places, it is a very moving document in our history, interesting above all because it allows us to view events already well known to us through the eyes of a Greek. The document reveals the tremendous tension surrounding the entire process.* 
>  
> *"What those who published this report believed would bring shame has, in fact, become another worthy chapter in our history. It is the Greek representative himself who testifies that we completed this journey without distorting the will of either the Greek or the Ukrainian hierarchs.* 
>  
> *"And we protected our distinguished guests. They, it seems, did not fully understand the danger. The report states that intelligence services were monitoring the process. Of course they were! In a country saturated with the agents of Novinsky and Derkach—the latter of whom, as was revealed later, was preparing sabotage and reconnaissance groups to assist in the occupation of Kyiv—the authorities already understood the level of danger facing every member of the delegation."*

Metr. Gregorios’ account, however, [described](https://uoj.news/news/i-was-in-a-state-of-unspeakable-anxiety/) the delegation being escorted by police to meet then-President Petro Poroshenko and being prevented from leaving Ukraine, as well as surveillance leading to the passing of handwritten notes rather than open conversation. He also recounted confronting Zoria, telling him that the Constantinople delegation had not come to negotiate the authority of the Mother Church.

"... I was in a state of unspeakable anxiety lest the interests \[of the Church\] be endangered by false promises of the President and so forth," Metr. Gregorios wrote.

![](https://uoj.news/content/images/2026/10/photo_2026-10-13_11-43-04.jpg)

Eustratius Zoria's repost, on his own Facebook homepage, of the page's portrayal of the delegation detention as "necessary." Photo: Eustratius Zoria / Facebook

The OCU-linked resource proposed designating October 11, the date in 2018 on which Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew revoked the 1686 Synodal Letter which gave the Patriarch of Moscow the right to ordain the Metropolitan of Kyiv, as a “Day of Justice and Freedom.”

Previously, the full English text of the leaked Unification Council chronicle was published exclusively [by the UOJ](https://uoj.news/news/exclusive-full-english-text-of-leaked-unification-council-chronicle-published-by-uoj/).