Filaret at “Local Council of UOC KP”: We will ordain a lot of new hierarchs

Head of the UOC KP Filaret. Photo: ICTV

The head of the Kiev Patriarchate, Filaret, at the Local Council held at Holy Vladimir Cathedral of Kiev on June 20, 2019, declared that he intended to “ordain” many new “bishops” and turn his structure from small into a “great Church” again.

“Our task is to establish the Kiev Patriarchate,” declared Filaret. “It served, serves and will serve the Ukrainian people.”

Filaret told the prehistory – what exactly prompted him to convene the "Local Council of the UOC KP".

“There was a Council of the Kiev Metropolis as part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” the “patriarch” recalled. “But this was not a Ukrainian Council, but a Greek one.” The proof is that it was chaired by Constantinople Metropolitan Emmanuel.”

Filaret said that at this “Council” they created a Church dependent on the Greeks, while he always advocated the existence of an independent Church in Ukraine. That is why it is necessary to have our own patriarchate. However, representatives of Phanar were opposed to Ukraine having its own independent patriarchy.

“They even demanded that I not wear a koukoulion at the Council. You saw that I was not wearing it, because they demanded there had to be no patriarchal signs whatsoever,” Filaret said.

He also accused Patriarch Bartholomew of spreading falsehood, namely, that the Kiev Patriarchate had never existed: “Patriarch Bartholomew repeatedly stated that there was no Kiev Patriarchate. Why tell lies? Don’t we actually exist?

Filaret explained why he agreed to receive the Tomos: “We agreed to such humiliation in order to get the Tomos. If we had known that Tomos would be like that – I would have never agreed to that. We’d rather be without Tomos – but with the great Church of the Kiev Patriarchate. We were deceived, we just fell for it."

According to Filaret, Petro Poroshenko, on the one hand, took pains to secure the Tomos. However, he didn’t care exactly what kind of Tomos was granted to Ukraine – Poroshenko only needed backup in the elections.

In addition, the “patriarch” commented on the dissolution of the UOC KP before the “Unification Council” on December 15, 2018: “There was no Local Council then. Right now we are having the Local Council, since there are representatives of the episcopate, clergy and laity, whereas the former was just a collection of signatures. Therefore, do not buy into propaganda that flooded the country and the world. We have been and will be the Kiev Patriarchate.”

Filaret told exactly how he sees the process of the restoration of the UOC KP: “We have become small from a big Church, but from a small one we will become big again. Now you can see here in the presidium (of the Holy Vladimir Cathedral – Ed.) three bishops, but we will ordain a lot more bishops. And we will start it at this Council. We will choose candidates for Episcopal sees. ”

In conclusion, Filaret thanked the participants of the “Local Council”: “I thank you all. Such people like you sacrifice life for the will of Ukraine. They do not renegade, but serve as a buttress. God is with us, the truth wins.”

Read also