Constantinople now acts not in its own interests, and there are no church reasons for the actions of Phanar in Ukraine, said Archpriest Alexander Klimenko, a priest of the Boryspil eparchyof the UOC, winner of the Voice of the Country, in an interview with Ukrainian Pravda.

“As for me, perhaps this (issuing a tomos to the OCU – ed.) Is a strange way to reiterate its importance. Perhaps these are the personal ambitions of Patriarch Bartholomew. But for me it is a fact that all his actions in Ukraine so far only bring harm. That’s all, ”says the priest.

According to him, the decision of the UOC testifies that the Church does not recognize the steps of Patriarch Bartholomew.

“I always try to separate church and politics, but when I see that the most powerful country in the world is actively intervening in this process … Every time a Church recognized the OCU, before that there was a certain pressure … But for some reason there was definitely an unscheduled visit of US representatives before that. We believe that Constantinople is now acting not in its own interests, that’s all, ”says Klimenko.

Answering a journalist’s question whether he believes that Phanar is acting in the interests of the United States, the priest replied: “Everything is very complicated here. I would say this: we do not see a single canonical reason why Constantinople acts in the following way. This means that we begin to think and look for other reasons. There are no church reasons here.”