Archimandrite Kirill Hovorun during a conversation with the author of “Detector. Interviewer” Saken Aimurzaev told him that the hierarchs of the canonical UOC perceive the expansion of the Phanar in Ukraine more sharply than the environment of the ROC.
The explanation for this by the fact that the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church do not become directly victims of attacks and continuous propaganda, Hovorun did not voice. Instead, he stated “after the granting of autocephaly to the local Ukrainian Church, hysteria began in the ranks of the UOC-MP, which continues to grow… such hysteria and completely non-church behavior on the part of the hierarchy primarily occurs in Ukraine, and not in Russia.”
“In Russia, hierarchs who disagree with Patriarch Bartholomew somehow restrain themselves, they demonstrate a greater culture of inter-Orthodox communication and simple church etiquette than our Ukrainian clergymen,” says Hovorun and theorizes that “this is a question of identity of representatives of the UOC-MP”.
“The identity of the UOC-MP was based on the fact that this Church was recognized by the Orthodox world. At one time, when I was the head of the department of interchurch relations in this Church, we paid a lot of attention to this. This was the main task – to ensure recognition, communication with the Orthodox world. This was the raison d’être of our existence in Ukraine – as we explained to others why we are here – for being recognized by world Orthodoxy. Now world Orthodoxy is beginning to recognize the OCU. What then is the meaning of our existence?” continues the archimandrite.