OCU 'bishop': At 'Council' Phanariots asked Poroshenko, "Are we arrested?"

Poroshenko together with the Phanar hierarchs in the presidium of the "council". Photo: "Left Bank".

OCU "Metropolitan" Daniil Kovalchuk of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna, addressing the flock of the OCU's new church in the village of Korytne, Chernivtsi region, described the difficulties, quarrels and conflicts that took place when the so-called "Unification Council" was organised in December 2018. A video of the sermon is posted on the Facebook page of “Bukovyna Orthodox of the OCU”.

According to Kovalchuk, after the "matter dragged on" for three hours, the Phanar hierarchs did not want to participate in the "Council" any longer and left for the airport.

"Before the Council when the Ecumenical Patriarch was to define our church and give the Tomos, after the liturgy Patriarch Filaret became indignant as the bishops supported the Metropolitan of Lutsk as head the church. And Patriarch Filaret wanted Epiphany as head and stopped giving respect to the Lutsk bishop. I got scared: Lord! Will the Holy Spirit come to the Council or not? Because it is not good, quarrels and arguments begin," the "hierarch" shared his memories.

He said that the situation was saved by the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.

"The exarchs had already left because the matter was delayed for three hours. They ran off to the airport. And then Poroshenko arrives, cancels the departures, goes to the airport to pick them up. They're outraged: "What is this, we're under arrest?!" What a mess that was!" Daniil Kovalchuk said.

As reported, Daniil Kovalchuk said that it was "through Petro Poroshenko that the Holy Spirit descended upon the 'Unification Council'".

As a reminder, the "Unification Council" was held on 15 December 2018 at St Sofia’s Cathedral at the initiative of Patriarch Bartholomew and Petro Poroshenko. Before it began, the "local councils" of the UOC Kyiv Patriarchate and the UAOC decided to cease their activities as separate religious associations and create one Orthodox Church of Ukraine. At the event, in addition to the initiators – the fifth President of Ukraine and representatives of the Constantinople Patriarchate – there were "hierarchs" from the UOC-KP, the UAOC, and two "hierarchs" of the UOC who fell into schism. The participants declared the creation of a new entity – the OCU.

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