Metropolitan Onufriy and more than 20 other priests of UOC-MP have Russian passports - Mass media
Metropolitan Onufriy (ne Orest Berezovsky) of Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate and more than 20 other clergymen have Russian citizenship.
It is informed by Ukrainian Truth, informs Censor.NЕТ.
It is noted that according to an extract from Rospasport system, Onufriy obtained a Russian passport in Moscow on March 20, 2002. A year later, on June 23, 2003, he also received a foreign passport of a Russian citizen. And it was not his first. In 1998, the priest was already issued a passport in Moscow. This means that Onufriy had Russian citizenship much earlier than in 2002.
The UOC-MP bishop and abbot of the tithe monastery, Gedeon (Yuri Kharon), also appears to have Russian citizenship. He received a Russian passport in 2019 in Moscow. And in 2020, he received two foreign passports of a Russian citizen. According to the UT, in January 2023, almost a year after the Russian army's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gideon served in Kazan, Russia. His prayer included words in support of Russian troops and the Russian attack on Ukraine.
In December 2022, former Metropolitan Yelisey (Oleg Ivanov) of Izyum and Kupiansk also obtained a Russian passport. After the occupation of Izyum, Yelisey continued to pray for Patriarch Kirill and began working for the occupation authorities. In particular, he hosted representatives of the occupation administration of the Kharkiv region in his church. After the de-occupation of Izyum, Ivanov fled to Belgorod, where he received a Russian passport.
At present, the UT has confirmed information about the possession of more than 20 Russian passports by UOC-MP clergy. At present, the editorial board cites only some of the names of UOC-MP priests who have Russian citizenship:
- Metropolitan Ionofan (Anatolii Yeletskih) of Tulchyn and Bratslav;
- Vicar of the Tulchyn Eparchy, Bishop Sergiy (Serhiy Anitsoy) of Ladyzhyn;
- Vicar of the Kyiv Eparchy, Archbishop Panteleimon (Victor Bashchuk);
- Metropolitan Meletiy (Valentyn Yegorenko), head of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy;
- Metropolitan Mark (Mykola Petrovtsiy), Bishop of Khust Eparchy;
- Metropolitan Iryney (Ivan Serednyi), Bishop of Dnipropetrovs'k Eparchy.
