OCU "priest" files a complaint to Phanar on the actions of his "bishop"

Roman Budzinsky. Photo: uapc.te.ua

"Priest" of the Ternopil diocese of the OCU Roman Budzinsky complained to the Patriarchate of Constantinople about the actions of the "bishop" of Ternopil and Buchach Tikhon Petranyuk, the website "Ternopil Diocese of the OCU" reports.

Roman Budzinsky wrote a letter addressed to the Deputy Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Deacon Gregory Frankakis (now he became the General Secretary of the Synod – Ed.), in which he asked to explain to him the application procedure set out Article 2, Section XI of the OCU Statute, which says that “a priest of any rank, ultimately condemned by his ecclesiastical authorities to any punishment, can use the right of appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch, in accordance with the provisions of the sacred canons (9 and 17 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council) and the centuries-old practice of the Church."

According to the representative of the OCU, he needs this information due to the fact that on October 9, 2020, Tikhon Petranyuk banned him from "priesthood".

Roman Budzinsky stressed that neither he personally “nor the community of the Holy Myrrh bearers in Pochapyntsi village, Ternopil region, never made a decision to join the jurisdiction of the Ternopil-Buchach diocese of the OCU”.

He said that he plans in the future to challenge Petranyuk’s decision "as the one that does not fully correspond to traditional Orthodox ecclesiology and canon."

The “cleric” of the OCU told the secretary of the Holy Synod of Phanar that three “bishops” of the OCU are currently “operating” in the Ternopil region: Nestor Pisik of Ternopil and Kremenets, Tikhon Petranyuk of Ternopil and Buchach and Pavel Kravchuk of Ternopil and Terebovlia.

According to Roman Budzinsky, the aforementioned “hierarchs” of the OCU are perceived differently by residents of the Ternopil region. Thus, Nestor and Pavel "enjoy high authority in the Ternopil region," while Tikhon's reputation "among the faithful of our parish and residents of the Ternopil region is ambiguous."

According to Roman Budzinsky, it is because of Petranyuk's reputation that the parishioners of his church “refused point-blank” to be part of Petranyuk-led diocese.

Budzinsky told Phanar that Tikhon “is a defendant in criminal proceedings initiated under Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (large-scale fraud).

In addition, the OCU cleric said that he became aware of the SBU's verification of information about Tikhon's possible cooperation with the "state security" bodies of the so-called LPR.

The OCU believers of Budzinsky’s community appealed to Epifaniy Dumenko with a request to grant their community the status of stavropegia. The Greek Romfea edition reported that in March 2021 Dumenko satisified their request and removed Tikhon from the administrative position in the parish.

However, according to Romfea, Tikhon “did not recognize this decision. He still supervises his communities and bans the priests that do not obey him from the ministry."

The publication also said that Tikhon Petranyuk left his wife and 7-year-old daughter and in 2009 became a “bishop” of the UOC-KP, but due to financial fraud he was banned from “priesthood” by Filaret's “synod”. Later, he migrated to the UAOC and was subsequently admitted to the “hierarchy” of the OCU.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that on December 6, 2018, a fight broke out between the “archbishop” of the UAOC Tikhon Petranyuk and the parishioners led by their “rector” Ioann Boyko in the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Viniatyntsi, Ternopil region.

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