The “transition” of communities from the Moscow Patriarchate to the OCU is politics, and the OCU wants to “see a united church, where there will be no Moscow Patriarchate or Greek Catholics, and there will be no OCU, there will be one big Ukrainian church. This was stated by “Metropolitan” of Lutsk and Volynsk Mikhail Zinkevich in an interview with the Volyn website “Pershy”.

“Politics is the interests of two or a group of people. I am a leader, can I have any interests or not? Of course they can! Which? Construction of churches, the formation of new communities, the transfer of communities from the Moscow Patriarchate – is this politics? Of course. It is not necessary to equate politics in the crude sense of secular life with church life. All this is a relationship, we are talking about something, because we want to see a united church, where there will be neither the Moscow Patriarchate, nor the Greek Catholics, and there will be no OCU, there will be one big Ukrainian church. Without all these names. It should be called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. No additions, no increments, no formats – the church of the Ukrainian people, and that’s it, ”said the representative of the OCU.

“Is this politics? Of course. Are we conducting politics? Of course. We are talking, looking for rapprochement on some issues or at least a minimal understanding, as far as possible, with the same Moscow Patriarchate, with Greek Catholics. We communicate, we live on the territory of one independent Ukrainian state. Moreover, the state is not an abstraction. We are not only citizens, we are also voters. We choose for ourselves the authority that will assist us in building the church, or the one that will hinder us and close the churches. Therefore, I am leading a policy,” Zinkevich added, answering a journalist’s question whether he is” more a politician than a churchman. “