Two eparchies of the Zaporozhye region asked Patriarch Kirill to accept them into the Russian Orthodox Church

The clergy of the Berdyansk and Primorsky diocese of the Zaporozhye region of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) wrote an appeal to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’. They asked him to include both dioceses in the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).

TASS reports that the reason for writing the appeal was that “Metropolitan Ephraim of Berdyansk and Primorsky, leaving his flock, fled to the territory controlled by Ukraine.” In this regard, the Berdyansk and Primorsky diocese are deprived of the opportunity to become part of the Russian Orthodox Church within the framework of official procedures. In this regard, the priests are asking Patriarch Kirill to decide on the inclusion of these dioceses in the Russian Orthodox Church in a special manner.

“The diocese cannot exist without a leader, in connection with this, the clergy, during the voting, decided to turn to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ with a request to accept the diocese of Berdyansk and Primorsky into the bosom of the Moscow Patriarchate,” the text of the appeal says, which, according to TASS, already “sent to Moscow”.

At the same time, there is no information about this appeal (as well as about the desire of representatives of the diocese to join the ROC) on the official website of the Berdyansk and Primorsky diocese of the UOC.

Alexander Kislov