Filaret writes a “spiritual testament”
Filaret with the testament. Photo: Telegram channel “For the Ukrainian Church”
The head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Filaret Denysenko, has composed a “spiritual testament,” the text of which has appeared in the public domain.
The document, titled “Spiritual Testament of the Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine Filaret,” sets out his vision for the future of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The publication coincides with the 30th anniversary of Filaret’s “patriarchate” within the UOC-KP.
Filaret emphasized that he remains the head of the UOC-KP and has no relation to the OCU.
“I am not the Honorary Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, as its representatives and leadership claim,” Denysenko stated.
He also forbade the OCU from performing his funeral rites. “I bequeath that the rite of the funeral service and burial be conducted in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Volodymyr in Kyiv by the clergy and hierarchs of the UOC-KP, not by the OCU,” Filaret wrote.
In addition, “being of sound mind,” he called upon all Orthodox Christians of Ukraine to hold a unifying council to create a Church independent of both Moscow and Constantinople.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that after the OCU’s statement about Filaret’s “apparent decline in health,” he served the Dormition feast.
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