Filaret: Epiphany wants to liquidate the UOC KP to take its money

The Patriarch of the UOC KP Filaret Denisenko and the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko. Photo: Glavcom

The head of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret Denisenko said why Epiphany Dumenko is trying to liquidate the UOC KP. According to him, the main reason is the desire to seize the funds of the "patriarchy", reports “Glavcom”.

So, Filaret asserts that each “eparchy” of the UOC KP is financially independent. At the same time, "the eparchies must make contributions to the maintenance of the patriarchate," but he never "demanded these contributions from them".

When asked whether it was true that Filaret controls the finances of the Kiev churches and therefore the Metropolis of the OCU is seriously under-financed, the head of the UOC KP replied: “It’s true that I control the funds of the Kiev Patriarchate. But I do not control the funds of the parishes. The parishes of the city of Kiev make contributions to the patriarchate, and even then – not all the parishes. Because if the parish is poor, no one requires it.”

In addition, the "patriarch" said that "the Kiev Patriarchate has funds for its existence. And Epiphany wants to seize these funds."

He said “Epiphany found lawyers to study the question of whether the funds of the patriarchate could be transferred to him. The lawyers did it and said that without the signature of the patriarch, it is impossible to do.”

That is why, according to Filaret, Dumenko wants to liquidate the Kiev Patriarchate “to grab the funds”.

Earlier, Epiphany Dumenko has stated that Filaret as "the head of the Kiev Eparchy" manages all its finances, excluding the St. Michael Monastery.

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