Why did no one come for Filaret?

The funeral service for Filaret at St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. Photo: OCU

Today, March 22, saw the burial of Patriarch Ilia of Georgia and of Filaret Denysenko, whom the Patriarch of Constantinople “canonically reinstated” to office eight years ago.

In Tbilisi, the primates and hierarchs of almost all the Local Churches were present, including those of Constantinople. In Kyiv, there was no one. And that raises an obvious question – why?

Let us recall that, according to the position of the Churches of Constantinople, Greece, Alexandria, and Cyprus, Filaret was a canonical hierarch, and not just any hierarch, but one of long standing, distinction, and authority. By their own logic, his stature was entirely comparable to that of Patriarch Ilia.

And so the question becomes unavoidable – why was there no one in Kyiv today from any of those Churches?

Of course, it would have been difficult to expect Patriarch Bartholomew to forgo his trip to Georgia. But surely Constantinople could have sent one of its own bishops. The other “Greek” Churches, too, could have sent representatives to Kyiv.

No one came.

And yet for years we were lectured, insistently and at length, about the need to “return” those who had been cast out for “political reasons” to the Orthodox family.

Well, they were returned. And not just anyone, but the “Metropolitan of Kyiv” – even if a former one. But when he came to his repose, not one bishop, not one priest, was sent to bid him farewell. So where, then, is this “Orthodox family”?

It was all in Tbilisi.

We often read the Gospel as though it were some abstract text, detached from the confusions and contradictions of our own day. But in fact it contains the answer to every one of our questions and bewilderments.

“By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” Even unbelievers know these words of Christ. But in 2018, certain learned men decided that, according to the latest findings of their science, it was apparently quite possible to graft a thornbush onto a vine.

And when the time came to gather the harvest, they simply pretended they had forgotten all about their experiment.

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