Shostatsky: We call ourselves “OCU” to differ slightly from those in the MP

Metropolitan Simeon (Shostatsky). Photo: TV7plus

Speaking on the Khmelnytskyi TV channel TV7plus, Metropolitan Simeon (Shostatsky) effectively acknowledged that the name “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” was adopted so as to differentiate from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“We are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but at the same time we say ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’ in order, for the time being, to differ slightly, because there is a similarity in name with those who still remain in the Moscow Patriarchate,” Shostatsky said.

At the same time, he claimed that “all the names that once existed in Ukraine, after the Tomos, pass only as a legacy” to the OCU – yet in practice, even representatives of this structure are compelled to clarify that the official designation was chosen for pragmatic reasons.

He also stated that the OCU does not differ from the UOC in anything except the language of worship. “The only thing that distinguishes us is that we pray in the Ukrainian language, according to the same laws, the same canons, the same services that exist in the Moscow Patriarchate also exist in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Shostatsky praised Epifaniy Dumenko for the “liberation” of the Lavra from Moscow.

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