Filaret clears Kiev temples of OCU from Epiphany’s followers

Filaret is on the offensive. Photo: Zuma/ TASS

Filaret sent Boris Tabachek, a cleric of St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, to take control of the Pokrovsky Church, where Alexander Trofimliuk was the rector until yesterday, reports on his Facebook page OCU "Bishop" Adrian Kulik.

“Filaret has sent Father Boris Tabachek to seize the Pokrovsky Church on Solomenka, in which Father Alexander Trofimliuk serves as rector,” reports Kulik. “The community unanimously (380 votes) supported its rector.”

Adrian Kulik did not specify where and when these 380 people gathered for a meeting.

Also, the "bishop" reported that today the "monks" of the St. Theodosius Monastery must pledge allegiance to Filaret and the Kiev Patriarchate, and Eustratiy Zoria will be evicted from the monastery:

“Filaret plans to visit the St. Theodosius Monastery of Kiev today, the program of the visit includes forcing the monks of the monastery to sign an oath/ document of allegiance to Filaret and the ‘Kiev Patriarchate’. Filaret ordered the vicar of the St. Theodosius Monastery to expel Archbishop Eustratiy and his priest Sergiy from the monastery with his family. Sergiy’s wife is pregnant in her last month, expecting her second child.”

The "Cerkvarium" resource published a comment on these events of the head of the Department for Religious Affairs Andrei Yurash, who is extremely alarmed by the situation and calls to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Synod of the OCU:

“Anxious and very unpleasant news began to come from the parishes of the Kiev City Eparchy of the local UOC: a movement allegedly started, which introduces conscious disorganization and is aimed at creating a structure uncontrolled by the legitimate church center. If this information really takes place, there is no other option but to urgently, literally tomorrow, convene the extraordinary Synod of the Church, and search for adequate responses to actions that can destroy church unity.”

We recall that Filaret, who, according to the statute of the OCU, rules its Kiev Eparchy, on May 28, 2019, banned the rector of the Pokrovsky (Intercession) Church of Kiev Alexander Trofimliuk from ministry. Trofimliuk is the right hand of Epiphany and the rector of the Theological Academy of the OCU, which houses the office of the OCU head. Filaret’s decree is written on the official letterhead of the Kiev Patriarchate.

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