The founder of the NGO “Memorial Foundation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Methodius” appealed to the Holy Synod of the OCU with a demand to investigate the allegations against Archbishop Tikhon (Petranyuk), in particular, regarding financial fraud and criminal actions.

Scandalous accusations brought against Tikhon (Petranyuk) and the need for action on the part of the Church: the appeal of the head of the Metropolitan Methodius Memorial Fund to the All-Honorable Bishops and the Primate of the OCU

Attention: The Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine)

His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine

Copy: to the secretary of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) His Eminence Simeon, Metropolitan of Vinnytsia and Bar

Copy: to the head of the commission, His Eminence Dimitriy, Metropolitan of Lviv and Sokal

Official address of the head of the NGO “Memorial Foundation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Methodius” Nataliya Mykhailivna Shevchuk

Your Bliss! Honorable lords!

With special attention, we read the announcement on the official website of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine regarding the meeting of the Holy Synod, which took place on November 7, 2024, in the Synodal Hall of the Metropolitan House at the St. Michael’s Gold-Top Cathedral. The discussed issues are important for the development of the life of our Holy Church. In particular, point 10 caused surprise – about the creation of a commission to study the circumstances of the appearance of images of secular people in the murals of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Lutsk. The close attention of the members of the Holy Synod testifies to the Church’s constant care and observance of the proper church system, traditions and canons.

Such important issues as the artistic appearance of the paintings, of course, deserve prompt response and thorough research, and in this case, the Volyn Diocese has already published an official response to the situation (see the statement of the press service of the diocese regarding the sketches of the images of the founders on the walls of the church – https://www .facebook.com/share/p/1CkRUUr1uq/), and therefore the creation of a commission looks like an absurd measure. In our subjective opinion, a selective right was applied to publicly harass an authoritative bishop of our Church, who is undoubtedly Metropolitan Mykhail Zinkevich. Why do such issues become a priority, while older problems of the Local Church are ignored?

In this context, the issue of the well-known criminal, the head of the Ternopil-Buchach Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU), Archbishop Tikhon (the late Taras Ivanovich Petraniuk), whose numerous abuses of church authority for some reason have been overlooked by the clergy for years, is a painful issue for us believers. According to open sources, Archbishop Tikhon (Petranyuk) appears in several scandalous and criminal cases, which for some reason the Holy Synod and the Primate of the Local Church stubbornly ignore.

  1. Land scams in the center of Ternopil along St. Chernivtsi.

Open information indicates that the land that belonged to the Administration of the Ternopil Diocese of the UAPC was alienated to the developer of an apartment complex for a probably small bribe of 1,200,000 US dollars. Who exactly used these plots and under what conditions they were transferred is still an open question. It is surprising that this case did not attract as much attention as the images on the walls of the temple in Lutsk.

  1. Loss of a property complex in Nyrkiv worth tens of millions of euros.

Also, the fact of the loss of a large part of the property complex of the UAOC – the men’s monastery of Saints Peter and Paul in the village of Nyrkiv, Zalishchytsky district, Ternopil region, is also widely known. What exactly happened to this property, how it was alienated and by whom – questions that for some reason are not considered at the meetings of the Holy Synod and the corresponding commission is not created for the preservation of the unique frescoes of the XVI-XVII centuries, and the architectural monument itself – the Chervonogorodsky Castle.

  1. Criminal cases against Archbishop Tikhon.

According to open media sources, Archbishop Tikhon is involved in several criminal proceedings and, according to official data, was released on bail.

A logical question arises: how did it happen that an active bishop, accused of criminal offenses and treason, with a passport of a citizen of the “DNR”, continues to perform his duties, and the attention of the Holy Synod is focused on the appearance of paintings of the Volyn shrine?

  1. His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphany personally guaranteed at the meeting with the believers in 2022 that citizen Petraniuk will settle the debt receipts written by himself in the amount of 70,000 USD with a believer of our Church, a donor and a respected person of Bukovyna Myronyk Vasyl Vasyliovych. Unfortunately, this has not happened yet.
  2. The Ternopil Theological Seminary and the Ternopil Theological Academy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of the UAPC in the city of Terebovlia have been transformed into a local private commercial ritual service, where the dead are kept, washed and mourned. At one time, together with the clergy and students, Metropolitan Methodius of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Primate of the UAPC (2000–2015), rebuilt buildings and the academic temple with his own hands, so that now Tikhon Petraniuk, in wartime, earns money from ritual services instead of teaching students? Is this the new policy of our Church to destroy and destroy everything, and turn temples into commercial objects?

We have a logical question: did you, dear bishops, make the wrong direction for the commission? Because if the reasons for the public whipping of the respected Volyn bishop are not known to us, believers, then in our opinion, it would be worthwhile to resolve internal conflicts and work on fears behind closed doors, because in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 7:16) it is written: You will know them by their fruits.”

Therefore, we consider it necessary to once again pay attention to the described shameful circumstances and ask to direct the actions of the created commission to investigate the actual criminal activities of Archbishop Tikhon Petraniuk. After all, the use of a church position for personal enrichment and the abuse of church resources seem to us to be much more serious than any even unsuccessful artistic decisions in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity of Lutsk.

With the hope of an appropriate response, with sincere respect and a request for prayers.

Head of the “Memorial Foundation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Methodius”

Natalia Shevchuk