OCU “hierarch”: Holy Spirit descends on "Council" through Poroshenko

Daniil Kovalchuk (far right). "Bukovyna Orthodox of the OCU" Facebook page

In the village of Korytne, Chernivtsi region, where the construction of a new church of the OCU is nearing completion, the OCU "hierarch" of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna, Daniil Kovalchuk, served the "bishop's liturgy", after which he addressed the parishioners.

In his sermon, he expressed the opinion that it was thanks to the fifth President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, that the “Unification Council took place and received the grace of the Holy Spirit".

“The Holy Spirit did not come to the council through us bishops, who were passive. The Holy Spirit descended on the Council through Petro Alekseevich Poroshenko. I told him that. And the Council, which decided and bestowed upon us what we have today, began,” said the “hierarch”.

As a reminder, the "Unification Council" was held on 15 December 2018 at St Sofia’s Cathedral at the initiative of Patriarch Bartholomew and Petro Poroshenko. Before it began, the "local councils" of the UOC Kyiv Patriarchate and the UAOC decided to cease their activities as separate religious associations and create one Orthodox Church of Ukraine. In addition to the initiators – the fifth President of Ukraine and representatives of the Constantinople Patriarchate – the event was attended by the "hierarchs" from the UOC-KP, the UAOC, and two "hierarchs" of the UOC who fell into schism. The participants declared the creation of a new entity – the OCU.

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