Drabynko: There are churches in my diocese that сommemorate Onuphry
The “metropolitan” of the OCU said activists organizing parish transfers to his jurisdiction are often atheists.
OCU “Metropolitan” Oleksandr Drabynko told Glavcom that in his Pereyaslav-Vyshneve Diocese there are churches that have legally transferred to the OCU but in practice continue to serve under the UOC.
“Parishes that wanted to remain with the Moscow Patriarchate were legally re-registered to the OCU: formally they’re in my diocese, but their priests serve under the MP,” Drabynko explained.
According to him, he deliberately does not evict such priests from the churches to avoid provoking conflict. “For example, in one village near Kyiv, the rector left for Canada, and the second priest stayed – he has about 200 parishioners there. The church is legally ours, but for now they serve as before, commemorating Metropolitan Onuphry,” Drabynko said as an example.
He noted that he could “bring in a court bailiff and go there even today,” but he doesn’t want conflict.
“I’m simply waiting for those parishioners to join the OCU voluntarily,” he assured.
Drabynko believes the conflicts between the OCU and UOC could have been avoided back when the OCU was created in 2018. In his view, many of the civic activists who push for parish transfers to the OCU have no real connection to the Church, and some are even atheists.
“As a result, parallel communities arise that follow the priest who doesn’t join the OCU, and they serve in private homes or wherever they can,” the “metropolitan” described. “Meanwhile, the churches stand empty, with no priests, because someone has to support them.”
Earlier, the UOJ reported that Drabynko once described himself as the author of the “Russian World” ideology.
