The cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Alexander Klimenko, testifies from his own experience that due to Phanar’s interference in the church issue in Ukraine, contacts and the ability to understanding “rolled back” to the level of the conflict in the early 90s. Archpriest Alexander stated this in an interview with Ukrainian Truth.

“I have a question for those clergy, bishops, priests and laity, from unrecognized, in our opinion, Orthodox groups in Ukraine, which allow violence. This puts an end to the possibility of quick dialogue. If our dialogue took place only at the table, in papers, in an attempt to prove that recognition to each other in the canons and so on, it would be one conversation and one degree.

Our discussion is absolutely empty and does not begin with words. Why? Because as soon as we start to do this, talk, let’s make peace, let’s love each other, let’s create an interfaith dialogue group – such groups were quite successful under Filaret. For the last years, 2012, 2010, 2007, 2005 – we have not been suffering from any seizures,” the priest recalls.

He believes that in recent years, before the intervention of the Phanar, the UOC and the structures of schismatics in Ukraine coexisted more peacefully.

“Moreover, the dialogue was at a very high level! In fact, the dialogue with the UAOC was at a level such that one could say: the union with the entire structure is about to take place… They even stopped writing to me – they used to write, tried to argue with me on Facebook. Now, it seems to me, all contacts have fallen back to the level of the 1990s.

As for me, the creation of the OCU and its tomos did harm to the Ukrainian unification. Because all the non-canonical groupings understood that they had to unite with the canonical church, and then it would be possible calmly together, quite legally, if the bishops wanted it, to ask for autocephaly from Moscow. And this united church would have received it in peace. Because she would have received it from the mother church. I have always been and to this day I am, I hope, a bright representative of those who want the autocephaly of Ukraine. But legal,” says the UOC cleric.