Filaret: Zelensky apologized for “thermos” remark, and we forgive him
It is, of course, hurtful when the Tomos is called a “thermos,” but the Church will continue to exist and develop regardless of whether it has the support of the head of state.
People should not think that the Kyiv Patriarchate was created by presidents, “His Holiness Patriarch of All Rus-Ukraine” Filaret Denisenko said in an interview with Radio Liberty.
According to him, the attitude of the country’s newly elected president toward the Church is not particularly important to it.
“If he treats us well, we will be grateful that he treats the Church well. But even if his attitude is negative – which we do not expect – the Church will still continue to exist,” Filaret said. He added that “of course, the Tomos, for which we fought for more than 25 years, should not be called a ‘thermos,’” but “Zelensky has already apologized for this, and we forgive the newly elected president for those words.”
Filaret stressed that the development of the new Ukrainian Church depends not on the president but on “the Church itself, the episcopate, the clergy, and the people.”
“People should not think that presidents created the Kyiv Patriarchate,” he said. “Some presidents were even opposed to the Kyiv Patriarchate – especially the president who fled. I mean Yanukovych. They were against it. But they could not defeat the Church. And so it is the Church itself, the episcopate, and the people who create the Church. And why the people? Because the people want an independent Church in an independent state.”
According to Denisenko, Ukraine also received the Tomos of autocephaly thanks to those who had spent all those years “building” an independent Ukrainian Church, although “President Poroshenko, of course, also deserves credit for this.”
“We have to look at things realistically. If there had been no Kyiv Patriarchate, which I created together with the Orthodox people, the bishops, and the clergy, could there have been any talk of a Tomos if there had been no Church? Obviously not. Therefore, the credit for receiving the Tomos belongs first and foremost to those who built the Church. But the president’s role should not be underestimated either. The Church existed, and previous presidents had appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarch, but there was no Tomos. So, of course, President Poroshenko deserves credit as well. But the main thing is that the Kyiv Patriarchate exists. That is the foundation. Without that foundation, there would have been no Tomos. And so Volodymyr Zelensky is right that the main achievement was the existence of the Kyiv Patriarchate, which I headed as patriarch,” Filaret said.
As the UOJ reported, OCU “Honorary Patriarch” Filaret stated that the Kyiv Patriarchate continues to exist in Ukraine and that sooner or later it will be recognized by the entire Orthodox world.
