Mass media: Filaret is set to hold a local council of the UOC KP

A meeting in the residence of Filaret on March 3, 2019. Photo: UOC KP website

At a meeting with the rectors of Kiev churches, which took place at Filaret’s residence on Monday, June 3, the “honorary patriarch” announced intentions to convene a “local council” of the UOC KP and asked not to re-register the parishes of the UOC KP for a new religious structure, the so-called OCU. This is stated in the audio recordings of separate theses of Filaret, the transcript of which was published by the Cerkvarium resource.

“Now our task is to preserve the Kiev Patriarchate. To what extent – it does not matter. But it must exist,” Denisenko outlined the main task when addressing the “clergy”.

He asked the audience not to re-register parish statutes in favor of “the so called OCU”.

“Right now, there will be pressure on you to re-register statutes for the OCU. If someone does it – he is expelled from the Kiev Patriarchate then. Anyway, we do not quit the Tomos, because this is a new church, as they say. “We are a new church” – have you heard that? I bet you have. And the Kiev Patriarchate has existed for 30 years. So who is actually moving away from whom? Are we getting detached from the newly formed church or is the new church getting detached from the Kiev Patriarchate? It is a new church, the OCU!” said Denisenko.

He said that he intends to convene a “local council”, which should decide on the future existence of the Kiev Patriarchate, while “the Kiev Patriarchate will continue to exist legally because the Kiev Patriarchate created a local council, not the bishops’ one, and only a local council can liquidate it”.

“Even if the bishops’ council liquidates the KP, its decision must be either approved or rejected by the local council,” Filaret continued. “Our opponents felt this and therefore, they distributed a false document – the decision of the Local Council of December 15 on the liquidation of the Kiev Patriarchate. But there was no local council!”

As a supreme body the “local council,” which, in the opinion of Filaret, must be held “so that our conscience is clear,” will approve the Kiev Patriarchate and “cancel the decision of the bishops' council, to be more precise, the signatures under the decision on liquidation”.

“Consequently, we will not make the decision that we are leaving the so-called OCU,” he said. “We will reaffirm to be the Kiev Patriarchate. If one wants to be with us – opt for the Kiev Patriarchate. Otherwise – opt out. But we will not leave this church on our own initiative. The Kiev Patriarchate was, is and will be. You declare that you are a new church. If you are a new church, either accede to the Kiev Patriarchate or quit it.”

Next Filaret stressed that the participants in the “council” “will be those who come. The local council will be attended by hierarchs, so even several bishops are enough for the local council to be valid. If there is only one bishop – then this local council cannot be valid. It cannot independently exist as a patriarchate with just one hierarch, since it cannot ordain bishops. And when there are at least two – like Jacob and I, it’s ok – for the two of us created the Kiev Patriarchate".

He also said that people need to be told: “We preserve the Kiev Patriarchate, which is not dependent either on Moscow or on Constantinople, while this so called OCU is dependent on Constantinople. Therefore, we reject dependence on Constantinople.”

The “patriarch” once again declared that there was “a local council of the Constantinople Patriarchate, but there was no local council (of the UOC KP – Ed.) before the Unification Council in St. Sofia Cathedral. What you were offered to sign is false. You put your signatures, but the new text was shoved to you.”

“We are not declaring that we are breaking the link with the OCU. We are not making such a statement. We are making the decision of the local council that the Kiev Patriarchate existed and continues to exist. That's all,” concluded Denisenko.

Read also