The odious chaplain of the OCU in Bukovyna, Roman Hryshchuk, known for provocations against UOC communities and participation in church seizures, called the decision of the synod of the Romanian Patriarchate to establish the Romanian Orthodox Church of Ukraine “an impudent invasion of the canonical territory of the OCU”. About this he wrote on his page in Facebook.

“The Romanian patriarch decided to invade the canonical territory of the OCU and create on Ukrainian territory his Romanian structure, which will be subordinate directly to Romania and him! And this brazen interference in the life of another state and the Church takes place at a time when on the territory of Romania Ukrainians were driven into the Ukrainian vicariate within the Romanian Orthodox Church! And they did not even allow Ukrainians to have their own bishop! The Ukrainian vicariate in Romania is headed by a simple priest who reports to the Romanian patriarch! And as to tear away a piece of Ukraine, they launched the mechanism of Romanian separatism!”, – wrote Hryshchuk.

In addition, Chaplain Hryshchuk is convinced that such a decision of the Romanian Church, in fact, is designed to fuel separatist sentiments in Bukovyna.

“According to the Tomos, all Orthodox living in Ukraine must be part of the OCU! For national minorities, their peculiarities and language of worship remain. By a separate decision, the Synod of the OCU created back in 2019 for Romanian-speaking parishes a Romanian Vicariate within the OCU! The Romanian Vicariate within the OCU is a mirror version of the Ukrainian Vicariate within the RumOC! But they did not hurry to join it. And today we understand why! They are interested in separatism and the rupture of Ukraine!”, – summarized the chaplain.

It is worth noting that in the OCU extremely painfully perceived the decision of the Synod of the Romanian Patriarchate on the establishment of the Romanian Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Recently, we reported that the head of the Mukachevo-Karpattya diocese of the OCU, Viktor Bied, said that such actions of the Romanian Patriarchate were dictated by the “influence of the FSS structures” on the Romanian authorities and the Church.