Archimandrite Cyril: UOC KP wasn't recognized legal by Phanar until 2018

Archimandrite Cyril (Hovorun)

Euphoria of autocephaly campaigners is premature, the Doctor of Theological Sciences, Archimandrite Cyril (Hovorun), wrote on his Facebook page. He carefully studied the text of the Constantinople decree and found that the “Filaret followers” distort its meaning.

“The automatic recognition of the hierarchy of the Kiev Patriarchate or Filaret’s Patriarchy does not arise from the decision of the Synod of Constantinople,” the theologian noted. He stressed that the law has no retroactive effect. The Phanar made certain decisions in October 2018 but this fact is not able to cancel its decisions made during the time frame of 1992-2018.

Archimandrite Cyril is sure that it is necessary to wait for a separate decision of the Constantinople Patriarchate on the question of the hierarchy it raised.

An hour later, he published another post in which he drew attention to the historical paradox. In 1686, Constantinople embraced the very Metropolis of Kiev, which Phanar later transferred to Moscow. “Which of the existing Churches in Ukraine is closest to this metropolis?” The answer to this question looks paradoxical: it is the UOC MP in the first line,” the Archimandrite wrote.

The second structure is Constantinople Stavropegion. It must obey Patriarch Bartholomew through the Kiev Metropolitan. “In this sense, Stavropegion is not the beginning of the restoration of metropolis, as some have already commented, but a parallel process with this,” he noted.

The October session of the Synod of Constantinople Patriarchate ended with its participants recognizing the heads of the UOC KP and the UAOC canonical and agreeing to restore the Phanar’s Metropolis in Kiev.

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