The Synod of the New Orthodox Church of Ukraine (KPU) deprived the patriarch of the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret of the right to administer the Kyiv Diocese of the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
According to the decision of the Synod, the Kiev Diocese falls under the authority of the head of the CCU, Epiphanius. Before that, Filaret announced the separation of the structure headed by him from the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
In the future, Filaret will be able to write in writing to Epiphanius regarding the conciliar consideration of his future status.
With one more decision, the Synod expelled Joasap Shibaev and the Metropolitan of Belgorod and Oboyan Peter Moskalev from the episcopate of the new church. The reason for this is called "active participation in actions aimed at outraging the opposition in the church environment." At the same time, Patriarch Filaret is allowed to remain in the episcopate.
Earlier, on June 23, Filaret appealed to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov with a request to protect him and the property of the schismatic UOC-KP from the actions of the TPC.
“I appeal to you, Arsen Borisovich, as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine with a request to protect the rights and freedoms of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, to give a legal assessment of the unlawful actions of the representatives of the POC, to guarantee non-interference in the internal life of the UOC-KP, to exclude church raiding,” the text of the post on Facebook by archpriest Nikolai Lagodich.
At the same time, the existence of the UOC-KP KP is not recognized not only by the Russian Orthodox Church and the canonical UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, but also by the newly formed schismatic CC and Constantinople. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew declared in early June that the Kyiv Patriarchate does not exist.
“The so-called Kyiv Patriarchate does not exist and never existed,” the head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, Sergey Tomilenko, quoted on his Facebook account.
The conflict between Filaret and Metropolitan Epiphanius began in the spring after Constantinople presented a tomos about autocephaly. From the point of view of the “new” church, the UOC-KP ceased to exist after the so-called unifying council on December 15, 2018. However, Filaret denies this statement.
"All statements by officials of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and various publications and comments in the media or social networks about the Kyiv Patriarchate and the UOC-KP, which allegedly" liquidated "or ceased their activities, referring to the decision of the" local council ", which was not, is not only a manifestation of incompetence, but also illegal actions that undermine the foundations of the current church, ”the press service of the UOC-KP said.
Filaret also spoke in condemnation of the tomos provided by Constantinople. In May, the head of the schismatic church stated that if he knew about the content of this document, he would not have agreed to it.
So, Filaret explained that the tomos deprived the PCU of three main powers that were supposed to guarantee the status of autocephaly: the followers of the PCC outside Ukraine belong to the flock of Constantinople, the church organization cannot cook the world itself (oil necessary for anointing), and all conflicts are resolved at Ecumenical Patriarchate.
“Three items that take away our autocephalous church rights. We are autocephalous by name, but in reality we are a church dependent on the Patriarchate of Constantinople, ”stated Filaret.
It is worth recalling that both the Russian Orthodox Church and the canonical UOC-MP repeatedly warned that the document provided by Constantinople would not give independence to the new formation, but would only subordinate Ukrainian parishes to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
President's attitude
More jurisdictions have already been created on the territory of Ukraine than were even when the local church of Ukraine appeared, said Roman Lunkin, head of the Center for the Study of the Problems of Religion and Society at the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RT.
“Previously, there was the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Now we can see that there is still the local church of Ukraine and the Kiev Patriarchate, reborn from the ashes, headed by Patriarch Philaret, ”the expert said.
According to Lunkin, the revived Kiev Patriarchate has absorbed all the discontented from the local church of Ukraine. The expert believes that recent events are the result of the continued strengthening of the local church of Ukraine, its lean towards the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the divorce from the old leadership of the Kiev Patriarchate in the person of Patriarch Philaret.
“Patriarch Filaret hoped to be not only a gray cardinal, but even the actual head of the church, but it turned out that Epiphanius outplayed him in this,” the expert expressed his point of view.
According to political analyst Ivan Mezyuho, now there is a conflict between Epiphanius and Filaret over the "church fund", over spheres of influence in Ukraine. According to him, the chances of winning the winner are more for Epiphanius.
“Still, part of the divisive Orthodox structures were established in the understanding that their head is Epiphanius, not Filaret,” said the expert in an interview with RT.
Mezyuho suggested that Philaret voluntarily limited himself to influencing the new church non-canonical organization.
“He miscalculated. This awareness prompted him to abandon the tomos and declare open confrontation with Epiphanius, ”the political scientist believes.
In his opinion, the only interesting issue in the current situation will be the choice of the direction of support from the new government in Kiev.
“Whether Zelensky will cooperate with Epiphanius or chooses Mr. Filaret as a partner is probably the only intrigue in this situation,” the expert concluded.