Kiev, August 27, 2025
Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC
The Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kiev has opened proceedings regarding defamatory statements made by Epiphany Dumenko, head of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” following a civil lawsuit filed by the persecuted Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kanev, the diocese reports.
The lawsuit concerns statements made by Dumenko during a TSN television broadcast, where he publicly made the following assertion about Metropolitan Theodosy:
Here we see the example of even Cherkasy Metropolitan Theodosy, who does everything for this, openly preaches this ideology, acts against the Ukrainian state, against the Ukrainian church on various international platforms, the Russian Federation involves and uses him for its purposes to show that there is no freedom of religion in Ukraine. And there are many such figures in the so-called Ukrainian Church, this is the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, who will never join, they will act, fight against Ukraine and against the Ukrainian church.
The plaintiff’s lawsuit states: “The plaintiff does not act against the Ukrainian state, he is not involved by the Russian Federation for use in its purposes.” The filing characterizes these statements as “public outright defamation against the plaintiff.”
According to the court documents, the lawsuit argues that Dumenko’s statements present “certain information that is presented as a specifically existing proven fact” rather than opinion, and that this information “is unreliable and discredits the plaintiff, humiliates his honor, dignity and business reputation.” The filing states these assertions constitute “an accusation of the plaintiff committing a crime, which is a violation of constitutional guarantees regarding the presumption of innocence.”
The lawsuit also cites church canons, including the 55th canon of the Trullo Council and the 27th Apostolic canon, which prohibit unfounded accusations against Church hierarchs.
The plaintiff requests the court obligate Dumenko to “refute the false information expressed on TSN” within five days of the court’s decision by posting a retraction on the OCU website and Dumenko’s Facebook page. The plaintiff’s side expressed hope that “S. P. Dumenko (Epiphany) will have enough civic responsibility to publicly apologize to Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kanev for the publicly made defamation against him, without waiting for the Court’s decision.”
If no apology is forthcoming, the plaintiff reserves the right to pursue criminal proceedings under Article 161 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code for “public incitement of interreligious enmity by an official.”
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