Filaret: We could have seized Kyiv Lavra, but we abandoned this plan

Everything in the Church must be free and voluntary. This was stated by Filaret Denisenko, when he was answering the question of the former MP Igor Mosiychuk about what is more important today for religious structures – dialogue or forced accession of church communities.

“We had the opportunity to seize the Lavra, but we rejected it, because this is a path alien to the Church. Everything in the Church must be done voluntarily, therefore we must voluntarily unite into a single local Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Denisenko said.

According to Filaret, hierarchs should serve the Church and God, rather than their own interests.

“One had better not serve their interests, because there is death, and after death there is judgment, and no one will escape this judgment. And the current leaders will be accountable for why they split a single Church,” the head of the UOC-KP sternly noted.

Recall that Filaret Denisenko addressed His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry and Vladimir Zelensky with the idea of creating a single local Church in Ukraine.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the OCU created the “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” structure and intend to get one of the churches in the upper part of the monastery for use.

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