“Father” has arrived? The head of the Church of Constantinople, having arrived in Ukraine, avoids meeting people whom he considers his flock, said Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, head of the Synodal Legal Department of the UOC, on Facebook.

“The meeting of believers in Kyiv is taking place in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine! In addition, the believers of the UOC are trying to convey to both Patriarch Bartholomew and the country’s leadership that they exist! Official state statistics and numerous religious processions that took place this summer in different parts of our country show that there are many believers of the UOC, much more than those of the OCU, and they are real people, in contrast to the statistics of the OCU.

After Bartholomew`s Tomos, neither the faithful nor the clergy of the UOC have disappeared, moreover, they do not want to be part of the newly created “OCU”. Then it was decided to drive them there by force and deception. Secret re-registration of religious communities, violent seizures of churches, discrimination for belonging to the UOC, these and many other violations of the rights of believers, encourage people to go to prayer stands and processions of the cross to convey these problems!

For some reason, Bartholomew shamefully avoids meeting people whom he considers his flock, hiding behind the screen of the canonical tradition. It seems to me that the Gospel tradition is much higher than the canonical tradition. If you undertook to treat, so treat, a good doctor always monitors the results of his treatment!”, wrote father Alexander.