On the eve of UOC-KP “Council”, Phanar hierarch comes to Mikhail Zinkevich

Mikhail Zinkevich and Metropolitan Makarios (Pavlidis) of Aneon Photo: the press service of the Volyn "eparchy" of the OCU

The hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople arrived in Volyn on June 15, 2019, on the Holy Trinity Memorial Saturday, at the invitation of “Metropolitan” of Lutsk and Volyn Mikhail Zinkevich, the website of the OCU "eparchy" reports.

Together with Zinkevich and other representatives of Volyn “eparchy” of the OCU, Metropolitan Makarios visited the city cemetery near the village of Garazdzha, where lithium for the dead Ukrainian soldiers was served.

“In the evening, the bishops served a festive all-night vigil at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the regional center, after which they addressed the faithful with words of greeting. On the Day of the Holy Trinity, Metropolitan Makarios visited Zhidychin monastery, celebrated Divine Liturgy, met with Volyn monks, and later in Lutsk gave a lecture for teachers and students of Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy. On Monday, the guest led the solemn service of the patronal feast day in the Cathedral,” the press service of the Volyn “eparchy” informed in its press-release.

“It is very interesting to me what Metropolitan Makarios of Aneon (Patriarchate of Constantinople) felt like in Zhidychin when, literally behind the fence, the true owners of the church visited were praying in the room, accommodated for worship services. Probably, the new “owners” forgot to show him the video of how they had grabbed this building. By the way, I think he would be interested to see how the UOC-KP / OCU secured the Holy Trinity Cathedral back in 1992. I am lost for words...,” commented the cleric of Volyn Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Oleg Tochinsky, the visit of the hierarch of the Constantinople Orthodox Church.

According to the expert Alexander Voznesensky, the representative of Phanar arrived in Volyn right now, on the eve of the “Local Council” of the UOC KP, announced by “patriarch” Filaret Denisenko, not at all by chance.

“You understand HOW everything is serious, that even Bartholomew was frightened and sent a metropolitan to Zinkevich before the anticipated council, trying to convince him not to support Filaret. If Bartholomew is scary, then I don’t envy Epiphany at all,” wrote Voznesensky on his Facebook page.

As the UOJ reported, on June 20, 2019, Filaret Denisenko is going to hold the “Local Council” of the UOC KP in Kiev in order to “establish” the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate in the future, which will be independent both from Moscow and Constantinople”. Despite the statements of the leadership of the OCU about possible implications, Filaret sent invitations to the “Council” to the “episcopate” of the OCU. The OCU also called any events, organized by the “liquidated” UOC KP, illegal and called on patriots not to participate in Filaret-initiated “Council”.

Recall, the “Metropolitan” of Lutsk and Volyn, Mikhail Zinkevich, was one of the main candidates for the post of “primate” of the OCU. According to him, Filaret blackmailed him to withdraw his candidacy from the ballot, threatening that he would not sign the decree on dissolving the UOC KP otherwise.

Recently, Zinkevich said that he has a serious weight in the OCU environment and together with his colleagues can control the clash between the leaders of the OCU: “They (Filaret with Epiphany – Ed.) are sorting out the relationship between themselves. If it takes on some “irregular” forms, then, of course, we will intervene, and I personally will. We will state our point of view and take appropriate decisions.”

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