Kyiv Patriarchate to Met. Volodymyr: You need us.

(RISU) - According to the Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate, there are two camps in the current situation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate: one camp is for granting autocephaly (the majority) and the other camp is smaller but more aggressive and is for full joining of Moscow. The head of UOC-KP stresses that Moscow and Kyiv continue to struggle within the Moscow Patriarchate for extended rights of the Kyivan Metropolitan, which Moscow wants to deny.

“I was directly told at the Hierarchical Council of ROC in 1992 that if I do not abdicate the Kyiv Cathedra, they will deny the independence of UOC. Today, Metropolitan Volodymyr feels the same threat. All the bishops feel it. Patriarch Kirill began to visit Ukraine more often exactly to let people get used to the fact that he is the head of UOC-MP and not Metropolitan Volodymyr,” said Patriarch Filaret in an interview to “Commentaries.”

According to the head of UOC-KP, if Moscow make the step of denying the independence of UOC, those who disagree will transfer from UOC-MP to UOC-KP.

“Therefore, in this struggle, Meropolitan Volodymyr cannot stand fast without the existence of the Kyivan Patriarchate, he needs us as a force protecting him with the very fact of its existence. And Moscow is rather afraid to openly deny the right of self-government because the representatives of UOC-MP who disagree can decide to join UOC-KP. Therefore, the relations between our Churches, the Kyivan Patriarchate and Kyiv Metropolitanate are better than before, for instance, 10 years ago. And I can see that there is no activity as far as an attack against the Kyivan Patriarchate is concerned. If there attacks, they are coming not from the Church but from representatives of the authorities, representatives of UOC-MP understand that the future can put them in our place,” stressed Patriarch Filaret.