Uniates accuse Moscow of Transcarpathians' reluctance to unite with UGCC

Uzhhorod Cathedral of the Mukachevo State Conservatory. Photo: RISU

The Greek Catholic priest of the Mukachevo GCC, Vasyl Mandziuk, in an interview with Espreso, accused Moscow of the reluctance of its structure to unite with the UGCC.

He complained that people in Transcarpathia “are not very nationally conscious” and that they “don’t care where to go, to the OCU or to the Moscow Patriarchate.”

Mandziuk believes that the Mukachevo diocese, independent of the UGCC, at the beginning of Ukrainian independence could only be registered “with the help of the special services.”

“Later there were repeated attempts at unification, but this was always opposed by certain circles associated with the Hungarians and Slovaks,” Mandziuk said and added that he could only explain this by the fact that “Russia is behind this.”

According to him, the explanation that there are many Hungarian, Romanian and Slovak communities in this region is wrong, because “Transcarpathia cannot be considered a multinational region.”

Mandziuk said that the authorities do not even want to register UGCC communities here: “The greatest paradox is not that the Mukachevo diocese has a separate status and is not subordinate to the UGCC. Transcarpathia is the only region in Ukraine where it is impossible to register a UGCC community!” he emphasized. The priest is indignant that the UGCC does not even have its own bishop here.

“It appears that because of such formalities, we cannot actually exercise our constitutional right to profess our faith in the religious community with which we are related as one nation,” notes outraged Mandziuk.

According to him, this “problem” must be solved at the state level, since “we are talking about our constitutional rights, we are citizens of Ukraine.” He believes that Ambassador to the Vatican A. Yurash should deal with this situation.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the UGCC chaplain called on his parishioners to expel UOC believers from their churches.

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