Ex-chief of staff: Bartholomew told Yushchenko, “Stay out of church affairs”

Patriarch Bartholomew and Viktor Yushchenko. Photo: Getty Images

Former head of the Presidential Secretariat Viktor Baloha revealed details of how negotiations with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople broke down, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

The politician said he had personally conducted negotiations in Istanbul for six months with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the leaders of the UOC-KP and UAOC. The proposed arrangement provided for UOC-KP leader Filaret Denisenko to become deputy head of the new church structure.

According to Baloha, Viktor Yushchenko completely derailed the negotiating process during the final private meeting in his office on Bankova Street. The Ecumenical Patriarch confirmed that he was prepared to grant autocephaly within several months, but the president then put forward a new demand.

Yushchenko insisted that Filaret Denisenko be made primate of the united church. At that point, Baloha said, Patriarch Bartholomew stood up, struck the table with his staff and switched to Russian: “Yushchenko, you mind your own duties. Spiritual matters are my domain. Stay out of them!”

The former head of the Presidential Secretariat said Patriarch Bartholomew left Kyiv in tears, saying that what had happened was the greatest mistake in Ukraine’s history.

“Today we have lost the chance to create a patriarchate in Ukraine because of incomprehensible ambitions. Major problems await you. Wars await you,” Baloha quoted the Patriarch as saying.

As the UOJ reported, Denisenko acknowledged that he had personally conducted secret negotiations at the Phanar even though Constantinople officially regarded him as anathematized at the time. According to Filaret, the Phanar was then proposing not autocephaly, but the incorporation of the UOC-KP into the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Read also