Ex OP head: In 2008, I took Filaret to negotiations with Bartholomew twice

Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: newsbeast

Former head of the Secretariat of President Viktor Yushchenko, Viktor Baloha, stated that he conducted behind-the-scenes negotiations on the creation of a new church structure in Ukraine as early as 2008 – ten years before the granting of the Tomos to the OCU. The former official spoke about this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine as part of the special project "Ukraine: 35 Years of Independence."

According to Baloha, preparations for the visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew took about half a year and included two trips to Istanbul together with Filaret Denysenko – once together with the UAOC "patriarch" Mefodiy, and a second time separately. Negotiations and joint dinners with Bartholomew lasted 7–8 hours.

"Mefodiy proposed to step aside for the good of the patriarchate, but Filaret dug in and demanded the throne for himself," Baloha recounted. According to his account, Bartholomew was prepared to offer Filaret the position of deputy in the new structure "since no local Church in the world would recognize his appointment."

The culmination came in July 2008, when Bartholomew flew to Kyiv for the celebrations of the 1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. At a farewell meeting with Yushchenko in the presidential office, the patriarch allegedly promised: "In two or three months, you will receive a patriarchate."

However, instead of expressing gratitude, Yushchenko unexpectedly asked that Filaret himself be made patriarch. According to Baloha, Bartholomew reacted sharply: he stood up, struck his staff on the floor, and switching from Greek to Russian, declared: "Yushchenko, attend to your own duties! Spirituality is my domain. Don’t meddle in it."

We remind you that Filaret Denysenko was defrocked and anathematized by the Bishops' Council of the ROC in 1997 for schismatic activity. Patriarch Bartholomew fully supported this decision and promised to have no church communion with him.

The UOJ previously reported that, according to Filaret, in 2008 he secretly traveled to Patriarch Bartholomew and reached an agreement on the recognition of the UOC-KP.

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