Commenting on the statement of the OCU cleric, who publicly called the parishioners of the UOC “crap”, the head of the DECR of the ROC, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said that since Constantinople is now the supreme arbiter for this so-called “OCU church”, Constantinople must probably deal with everything that happens in Ukraine, writes Patriarchia.ru

“These are not priests, these are laity, people who have put on priestly vestments, have proclaimed themselves priests. There are also those who have proclaimed themselves bishops and metropolitans, but they do not have canonical ordination. Therefore, they are not priests. These are impostors who illegally appropriated their priesthood, and then they were legitimized by Constantinople. From the point of view of Constantinople, this gentleman who spoke so is a priest. <…>

It has nothing to do with us, it has nothing to do with canonical Orthodoxy. And I repeat once again: this is not a priest at all,” said Metropolitan Hilarion.