UOC bishop says if SBU initiated Feofaniya Council

Archbishop Viktor (Kotsaba). Photo: a screenshot of the “Tetiana Tsaruk Channel. In Search of the Truth".

Archbishop Viktor of Khmelnytskyi in an interview with the channel "Tetiana Tsaruk. In Search of the Truth" explained how and why the Council of the UOC in Feofaniya was assembled.

Responding to an ironic question from the journalist about whether the SBU was among the initiators of the Council, the archbishop said that the gathering of the Council was literally demanded by the UOC believers and priests.

"I can say with full responsibility because at that time I had the obedience of the vicar and I personally submitted to His Beatitude many documents that came to our Office. And these documents were not from the SBU, but from believers of many eparchies who made a concrete request to His Beatitude. And it was these appeals that became a reason for convening the Council of the UOC," the bishop said.

He added that before the Council, he invited the clergy of his vicariate (28 parishes) to know the sentiments of believers. According to him, the ruling bishops of the UOC also did the same.

According to the archbishop, only one or two parishes in his jurisdiction where the faithful did not want to change anything retained the commemoration of the Patriarch even before the Council. The rest ceased at the request of the parishioners.

Such sentiments of the believers were caused by the position of Patriarch Kirill concerning the war.

"Talking to people, I repeatedly heard that they expected a word from Patriarch Kirill, but not at all what they heard. One that would support the Ukrainian people. Unfortunately, it was different. And this, too, affected the situation," the bishop said.

According to him, information was flowing to the Metropolis from each eparchy, and "we know that eparchial bishops made decisions at their level, which were approved at the level of the Council.

Assessing the decisions of the Council, Archbishop Viktor stressed that the UOC at the level of the Synod confirmed their correctness: "As an obedient of the Church, I accept these decisions. And, of course, for me they are fundamental in the life of the Church. Despite the fact that there were supporters of both the proclamation of autocephaly of the UOC and those who demanded no change, the Council made a Solomonic decision that satisfied the majority of the UOC flock.

Assessing the current status of the UOC, the archbishop called it one that "contributes to the full implementation of the mission of the Church, which is to save people”.

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