(RISU) - The Orthodox Church of Ukraine representatives emphasize that Filaret has no right to convoke such an assembly on his own behalf and call it a 'Council'. This is reported by ZN.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine has officially warned Patriarch Emeritus Filaret that holding the “Local Council” of the dissolved Kyiv Patriarchate would mean a split. The official statement also warns that the participants of such a 'Council' will be excommunicated.
“Patriarch Emeritus” Filaret has no right to convoke on his own behalf the “Local Council of the UOC-KP” either under the Charter of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, or under the Charter of the dissolved UOC-KP. The voluntary and non-statutory conduct of an assembly of a group of unauthorized persons -- such assembly being referred to as the Council -- will constitute the church split and the secession of organizers and participants of such meetings from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine with all canonical and legal consequences,” the statement warns.
The OCU has reminded that last year the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate ceased its activities as a separate religious association. After the decision of the Local Council of the UOC-KP, which took place on December 18, 2018, the Kyiv Patriarchate joined the newly-established OCU.
Filaret announced that he had decided to convoke the Local Council of the Kyiv Patriarchate -- which was no longer in existence on June 20 -- to prove that it “has existed, still exists and will exist”. At the same time, he noted that he did not recognize the Tomos of autocephaly of the OCU, since he had not been familiarized with his text [before signing it].
In May, Filaret stated in his appeal that his rejection of the status of the patriarchate at the Local Council in December 2018 does not mean anything, and that, allegedly, no one dissolved the Kyiv Patriarchate.
Analysts say that since the OCU was set up, a confrontation for influence in the Church has evolved between Epifaniy and Filaret. In particular, Patriarch Emeritus Filaret is not satisfied with his symbolic status and is trying to get a decisive influence on the life of the Church. In an invitation to honor the memory of the Hieromartyr Macarius printed on the letterheads of the UOC-KP, he tried to verify the number of hierarchs who could support his idea of restoration of the UOC-KP. At the same time, after the scandal broke out, a number of eparchies of the OCU made open statements in support of Epifaniy.
On May 10, the Primate of the OCU, Metropolitan Epifaniy said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Kyiv Patriarchate legally ceased to exist in the course of the Unification Council of December 15, 2018 and its restoration is tantamount to loss of the Tomos.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
"Patriarch Emeritus" Filaret faces return to excommunication
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Color me shocked
ReplyDeleteSchisms will always create more schisms.
ReplyDeleteTalk about a ship of fools!
ReplyDeleteI imagine that Constantinople is now having a huge case of buyer's remorse vis à vis "Filaret." When one connives and deceives, it pays to know well the person with whom one is conniving and deceiving.
ReplyDelete"Filaret" has been an unrepentant, opportunistic, deposed & anathematized scoundrel for decades (not to mention a "monk" with a wife and 3 children whom he abandoned.... Ah yes, a true patriarch and model of Christ!).
Constantinople chose to gamble with him because the "synod without a flock" in Constantinople is also comprised of many opportunists who envy and detest Russia. They wanted to use "Filaret." They chose to publicly characterize him as a sort of Ukrainian religious "freedom fighter," which is and always has been utter poppycock and completely insane.
Many/most deluded and secular westerners (many in the US government and in the press) bought it, because they also happen to detest Russia.
Schadenfreude is sinful, but it is impossible to not realize that Constantinople dug this pit for itself and probably doesn't know how to get itself out.
C'ple will likely default to its typical M.O. of "What mess? The problem is not with us! The problem is with you for pointing out this mess and talking about it in public! If you were a good Orthodox Christian, then you'd go out of your way to make Constantinople look good, no matter what she does!"
The only ones who had anything to gain from this "Filaret" gamble last year were the extreme bitter Russia-haters, the U.S. State Department which funded it, Rome (it's well-known that the end-state was/is going to be a "unified" UGCC and "new UOC" all under Rome, with C'ple unifying with Rome as well), and envious Greek narcissists who don't have the emotional capacity to deal with the influence that the Russian Orthodox Church now has in the post-communist world. (Russia has 70-75% of the world's Orthodox Christians; there is no centralized papal authority in the Orthodox Christian faith; of course a free Russian Church will be influential in worldwide Orthodoxy.)
It should be tragically interesting to watch how C'ple deals with its "Filaret" mess. My intuition says that it won't end well.
"with C'ple unifying with Rome as well)"
DeleteThis is the first time I have heard of PoC's plans to unify with Rome, is this common knowledge?
I have a hard time thinking everyone within the Patriarchate would go along with that considering the utter mess that Rome is in right now
I may have said this before, but... Filaret is a product of the Soviet system. He had the best of both worlds; drawing a salary from the church for being the Metropolitan, and from the state for being a KGB man. Plus, he got to have a wife into the bargain. The Soviets loved such corrupt clerics, because they helped weaken the image of the church in the eyes of the faithful.
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ReplyDeleteSchismatics acting schismatic? You don't say.
ReplyDeleteI DO say. Whatever happened to the "reset button" Patriarch Bartholomew is supposed to have?
ReplyDeletePerhaps Hillary Clinton took the reset button back from him.
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