Epiphany Dumenko is not a legitimate primate, because he “seized power” and was not elected at a “local council”, and this contradicts the charter of the organization he heads. This is said in the statement of the head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko, published on the official website of the “Kyiv Patriarchate”.

“Epiphany seized the power of the primate thanks to the interference in the internal church life of the then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. He had the opportunity to convene a Local Council to elect the Primate of the UOC, but he did not take advantage of this duty, and therefore he is to blame for not convening a Local Council for two and a half years.

The episcopate, clergy and laity should know that they are subordinate to the illegal Primate of the UOC – Metropolitan Epiphany,” the message of the “Kyiv Patriarchate” says.