Of yokes and freedom

KYIV (RISU) —In an interview with “Ukraiinskyj Tyzhden’” (The Ukrainian Week), the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Patriarch Filaret shared his thoughts about church unification, the dialogue with Constantinople, and the new Moscow Patriarch. Patriarch Filaret is convinced that the only realistic model for the establishment of one local UOC church is unification. By this, the patriarch stressed that he means unification with the Moscow Patriarchate because the fate of the Autocephalous Church is decided over and above the decision of a few bishops. “When we unite, autocephaly will come automatically,” he noted.

“If the head of the UOC-MP wants one local church in Ukraine, he should separate from Moscow,” stated the patriarch.

Patriarch Filaret also told the interviewer about the visit of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to Ukraine. “The universal patriarch has different goals. Our goal was to join the Constantinople Patriarchate for a short period and emerge as an autocephalous church. His goal was to make the Kyivan Patriarchate a part of the Constantinople Church and strengthen it thus, granting us autocephaly only in some unknown future. Whatever the Patriarchate, it makes no difference to us: to be released from one yoke is to get into another one.”

He added that the Constantinople Patriarchate offered surprisingly worse conditions for the UOC-KP than the Moscow Patriarchate. He also noted that he was ready to give up his patriarchal position for the sake of obtaining autocephaly.