Ivan Kovaliv, a parishioner of the vicariate of the UOC-KP in the USA, wrote “An open letter to His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius and the Metropolitan of Kiev of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, which is published on the Facebook page “For the Ukrainian Church”.

“The organization of Ukrainian Orthodox parishes in the Vicariate of the USA and Canada took place back in 2003 after the visit of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret to our continent. Through his efforts, a certain part of the communities joined the Kiev patriarchal throne. Even then, our hope was the formation in Ukraine of a single Orthodox Church, which, like a mother, could spiritually feed her children everywhere and everywhere, as other local Churches of the world do. Therefore, the unifying role of Patriarch Filaret should be appreciated,” the author of the letter writes.

According to him, “dreams do come true, but not always. Our dreams were shattered against the stone of human malice and betrayal. For more than two years now you have denigrated your spiritual father, who gave birth to you – Patriarch Filaret.”

Commenting on the statement of the OCU concerning the new secretary of the Vicariate of the USA and Canada, Archpriest Bogdan Zgoba, he calls it “slanderous” and notes: “You should not slander, denigrate a person and get into his underwear, because justice itself can do this over time, if it pleases God. However, how not to twist the words, it was by the decree of our ruling bishop, His Holiness Philaret, that he was appointed to this position.

Everything has a reason. The reason for this act of the Patriarch was the departure of Archpriest Viktor Polyarny, who was deceived by you. How is deceived? And such that you promised to accept all the diaspora parishes to the newly formed Church, but the promise has been in the air for two years in a row.”

“There is a direct answer to this, which you are hiding: accepting the Ukrainian diaspora in the OCU is expressly prohibited by the tomos provided by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in 2019. And there can be no other interpretations here.”

“You are on a dangerous path. Since there is still no legal contact between the OCU and parishes in the diaspora, you, without any tolerance, began to interfere in the affairs of citizens and communities in the United States, violating the principles of freedom of religion and sowing enmity. By doing so, you are breaking the laws of the United States.

Dear Metropolitan Epiphanius, I urge you to prohibit your press secretary, Archbishop Evstratii Zori, from engaging in such illegal, anti-canonical activities, ”Kovaliv emphasizes.