Bartholomew to Poroshenko in 2018: You’re not ready for autocephaly, we’ll leave

Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew. Photo: Poroshenko's press service

On the eve of the “Unification Council” in December 2018, Patriarch Bartholomew was prepared to recall his delegation from Ukraine if Poroshenko failed to force Filaret to abandon his claims to power in the future OCU. This is stated in a report to the Patriarch published by the Union of Orthodox Journalists of America.

The document was written by the current Metropolitan Gregorios of Ancyra, who in 2018 served as a patriarchal deacon and assisted the head of the delegation, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Gaul (now of Chalcedon). He was personally present during the conversation.

Conversation under security service supervision

The conversation took place on December 14, the day before the council. The previous night, UOC-KP head Filaret, during a meeting with Poroshenko, had refused to back down from his demand to become head of the Synod with the powers of a primate. The Phanar representatives decided to abandon the plan to create the OCU and leave Kyiv. Metropolitan Emmanuel bought plane tickets and arranged cars to take the delegation to the airport.

However, Gregorios writes that the delegation was escorted by police to the Presidential Administration. The Phanar representatives had their phones taken away, were subjected to personal searches, and were told they were prohibited from leaving the country. In an operations room, where Poroshenko, presidential adviser Rostyslav Pavlenko, and a senior security official were present, the president called Patriarch Bartholomew. According to the author, everyone in the room could hear the conversation.

“I am not going to sell the dignity of the Patriarchate”

“Your Excellency, I have learned from the Metropolitan of Gaul about the difficulties, and I regret that the problematic behavior of one single person proves that you are not ready for autocephaly,” the Patriarch began, according to Gregorios’s account.

The Phanar head went on to say that he had no right “before God and my predecessors” to "make us a laughingstock throughout Orthodoxy of the privileges of the See of Constantinople."

“I respect you, but I am not going to sell the dignity of the Patriarchate to any Filaret. And if you are unable to rein him in, I am sorry, but my people must leave. At the Phanar, we have learned to fear no one and nothing when its centuries-old rights are at stake. Act accordingly,” he said.

According to the author, a “bewildered” Poroshenko began to explain himself: “I am not Filaret, Your All-Holiness, I am Petro Poroshenko.”

“I am telling you this so that you will pass it on,” the Patriarch replied.

The “military intervention” argument

The president then tried to explain the urgency.

“Your All-Holiness, the situation in Ukraine is such that if we do not hold the Council tomorrow, there is a possibility of military intervention by Russia, which will see our weakness,” Gregorios quotes him as saying.

“Then correct the situation immediately,” came the reply.

Poroshenko read out a draft letter that Filaret was supposed to sign and address to the Patriarch. In it, the UOC-KP head renounced any positions in the new structure except permanent membership in the Synod.

“If I obtain Filaret’s signature on this document, do we proceed?” the president asked.

Bartholomew replied that the council would take place “only if my Exarchs assure me that none of the privileges of the Mother Church are under threat.”

At the end of the conversation, the Patriarch addressed Emmanuel: “I draw your attention to your actions. I do not permit you to play with the interests of our Patriarchate.”

Gregorios admits that even a month later, while recording the scene, he could not hold back tears, and compared Bartholomew to the high priest in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Immediately after the conversation, Poroshenko “cheerfully said goodbye to everyone” and personally went to see Filaret “to use his authority to obtain his signature.” Less than an hour later, Pavlenko brought back the signed document. However, the following day, during the council itself, Filaret again refused to sign the decision dissolving the UOC-KP, and Viktor Yushchenko, the speaker of parliament, and Poroshenko once again had to persuade him.

As a reminder, on December 15, 2018, the OCU, headed by Epifaniy Dumenko, was created at the “Unification Council” from two schismatic structures – the UOC-KP and UAOC. On January 5, 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew presented it with the Tomos. Of the 98 bishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church at the time, only two took part in the “council.” Filaret soon left the OCU and revived the UOC-KP, where he remained until his death on March 20, 2026.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Filaret, Poroshenko and Dumenko deceived him before the "Unification Council," promising him leadership in the OCU.

“There were agreements between me and the President, and with Epifaniy as well. And not only between the three of us, but also with the hierarchs,” Filaret said. “And at the Hierarchical Council, the same agreement was in place: that I would continue to manage the Church within Ukraine together with Epifaniy, while he would represent the Church in external relations. That was the agreement.”

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