Met. Luke: Compromises with OCU will only make UOC more vulnerable

Metropolitan Luke. Photo: Zaporizhzhia Eparchy's press service

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol stated that the appeal of the OCU head Epifaniy Dumenko to unite with the UOC ‘is not dictated by the desire to be united with us in spirit and truth, but by other intentions, which are far from these desires’, so the Metropolitan urged not to compromise with those who serve worldly interests. He wrote about this in his letter to the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

Met. Luke noted that Dumenko made a number of inaccuracies and errors in the letter.

“Nowhere and never, both officially and in private conversations, His Beatitude Vladimir (Sabodan) expressed the opinion that we need to urgently achieve unity, ignoring the canons of the Orthodox Church. He always asserted the opposite. His clear position was known to all of us – unity on firm canonical ground!” wrote Met. Luke.

The hierarch of the UOC mentioned a meeting in Tbilisi with Patriarch Bartholomew, who said he would not recognise as the Church those whom he himself called schismatics.

“He denied in every possible way also that preparations were being made for the proclamation of the ‘tomos’. But, saying one thing, in fact the Ecumenical Patriarch did another, which is also, in my opinion, incompatible with Gospel ethics and morality,” Met. Luke commented on the Constantinople Patriarch’s words.

In his letter, he emphasised that the claims that are now being made against the UOC by politicians and MPs are far-fetched and devoid of common sense.

“Our conscience is clear before God and our people. We have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to be embarrassed about. Any persecution, harassment and threats from the enemies of our Church will not be able to shake our faith and confidence in our righteousness,” said the hierarch of the UOC.

Met. Luke wrote that if compromises are made with the OCU, it will make the UOC even more vulnerable.

“We will not be understood or supported by representatives of other Local Churches, who, without fear of anything, have stood up for us at the international level, as we will be deprived of God's help in this case,” he noted.

The bishop allows for unification with the OCU, but only "on the condition that those who have deviated from the Truth and taken the path of falsehood return to Her fold," concluded the head of the Zaporizhzhia Eparchy in his letter.

As the UOJ wrote, on 1 May 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine reported about the suspicion of Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of the UOC, who supposedly “provoked and incited religious hatred in Ukraine”.

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