Filaret withdraws signature to the document of "Council" starting up OCU

The head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko. Photo: alchevskpravoslavniy.ru

On January 10, 2020, the head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko withdrew his signature to the decree of the so-called “local Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate” of December 15, 2018, on the liquidation of his structure.

According to the website of the UOC-KP, it is precisely this decision that officials of the Ministry of Culture refer to, refusing to make state registration of a new resolution of the “Сouncil” of the UOC-KP on June 20, 2019. For this reason, Denisenko informed the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports of Ukraine Vladimir Borodiansky about the withdrawal of his signature.

“I withdraw the signature as a valid legal action by the provisions of Articles 9 and 13 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Articles 22 and 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which exclude the deterioration of the legal status of citizens of Ukraine who exercise the right to freedom of conscience in the Kyiv Patriarchate.

Therefore, in the future, I ask you to consider the signature of Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine to the decree of the so-called Local Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate of December 15, 2018, invalid in the future,” the statement said.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko still considers the “Honorary Patriarch” a self-isolated “bishop” of the new church structure. “Now there is no need to talk about the existence of a separate structure of the Kyiv Patriarchate. Because neither de jure nor de facto this Church already ceases to exist because it formed the basis for the only recognized Orthodox Church,” said Dumenko.

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