Dumenko claims OCU has 11 times more parishioners than UOC

Serhii Dumenko. Photo: OCU

Epifaniy Dumenko has claimed that the number of parishioners in the OCU under his leadership is more than 11 times higher than the number of faithful in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The claim appears in a report published on the pomisna.info website.

In the report, Dumenko cited data from a survey conducted last year by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. According to the figures he presented, 63% of Ukrainians identify as Orthodox, while 50% of all respondents identify with the OCU – around 80% of the country’s Orthodox population. Another 9% described themselves as Orthodox without specifying a jurisdiction, while only 4% said they belonged to the UOC. Six percent of respondents identified with the UGCC.

Dumenko said the figures confirmed that his structure remains the country’s largest religious organization even under what he described as the UOC’s “abnormal existence.”

As the UOJ reported, Dumenko previously called for unity with those who “carry out the orders of the bloody patriarch.”

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