IMAGE: vesti.ua
The government-backed non-canonical ‘independent’ Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) is pressuring Romanian-speaking lay people in Ukraine in an attempt to force them to join the OCU.
The OCU created a Romanian vicarate in July 2019. However, 0 of 129 Romanian Orthodox Church prayer congregations has joined it so far. They, as the most of the Ukrainian population, remain loyal to the canonic Orthodox Church.
A sources in the Romanian Orthodox Church told Ukrainian media outlet Vesti that the OCU is now actively attempting to force Romanian-speaking laity and clergy to become a part of the non-canonic entity. The crumbling OCU needs this to consolidate its influence on at least one of the ‘frontlines’ of its war on the canonic church.
Another factor that makes the OCU upset is that Romanian-speaking clergy and laity support the canonic Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) in its effort to defend itself from attacks by the Kiev-backed OCU.
The established sitaution is another demonstration that the OCU is a merely technical entity created by the Kiev government and its foreign supporters as a tool of expanding own influence and wealth.
