Zoria: The Local Council of the UOC KP is illegitimate

Former spokesperson for the UOC KP Eustratiy Zoria. Photo: TSN

The gathering held by the head of the UOC KP Filaret Denisenko is not legitimate and cannot be called the “Local Council” of the Kiev Patriarchate, noted OCU “Archbishop” Eustratiy Zoria on the “TSN” TV channel.

The former spokesperson of the UOC KP announced the statement of the Kiev Metropolis of the OCU on the “meeting” that took place on June 20, 2019, at St. Vladimir’s Cathedral of Kiev.

“This meeting appropriated the name of the Local Council of the UOC KP. In fact, this can in no way be interpreted as the Local Council of the UOC KP because the present Local Council of the UOC KP took place on December 15, 2018, at the Minor or Warm Sophia, where all the hierarchs of the Kiev Patriarchate, representatives from the clergy and laity of all eparchies were present,” explained Zoria.

In support of his words, he recalled the documents signed by "the head of the UOC KP His Holiness Patriarch Filaret" about the dissolution of the Kiev Patriarchate and the video recording, which shows that "the decision was made consciously, voluntarily".

“From December 15 on, the UOC KP, as well as the UAOC, has ceased a separate existence and become a single local OCU <...>. The same decision abolished the order of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine on the registration of the UOC KP,”said Zoria.

According to him, the way the “Local Council” of the UOC KP is convened proves its illegitimacy. The Statute of the Kiev Patriarchate declares that the “Patriarch” should make a decision on the convocation of the “Council” together with the “Holy Synod”, but this did not happen, since the “Synod” of the UOC KP no longer exists, the OCU “hierarch” noted. The participants of the meeting at St. Vladimir’s Cathedral arrived there at the invitation of Filaret, added Zoria.

“The difference between invited persons and delegates seems to me absolutely logical and understandable. That is, those who gathered at St. Vladimir’s Cathedral were not delegated by anyone, they came at the invitation of the honorable Patriarch Filaret,” he stressed.

And he said that a small part of the “hierarchs” has broken away from the OCU.

“At the moment, a small part of those who belonged to the OCU has been separated into a new structure. The new structure, which in order to confirm its capabilities, its authortity and so on, assumes the historical name of the UOC KP, but it isn’t and cannot be as such,” summed up the former spokesperson for the Kiev Patriarchate.

Despite statements by Zoria about the abolition of the registration of the UOC KP by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the register of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine as of June 20, 2019, indicated that the “Kiev Patriarchate” of the UOC KP “is not terminated”.

 At the same time, "Patriarch of Kiev and All Rus-Ukraine" Filaret announced the elimination of the renunciation of the UOC KP. According to him, this decision is no longer subject to further revisions, because on December 15, it was not “the Local Council while this one is the Local Council”.

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