Prominent religious experts urge Filaret to curb attempts to restore UOC-KP
The Forum of Ukrainian Intellectuals "For the Local Orthodox Church of Ukraine" was held in Kyiv on June 10. Its participants expressed concern over recent actions and statements of Patriarch Emeritus Filaret aimed at the restoration of the Kyiv Patriarchate.
The participants of the meeting also called on the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Metropolitan Epifaniy and the members of the Holy Synod to take decisive measures to curb any attempts to restore the self-liquidated UOC-KP and to stop the defamation campaign towards the OCU, which is carried out by some of its bishops and priests.
We bring to your attention the full open letter of the Forum of the Ukrainian intellectuals.
At the beginning of June 2019, for reasons of the good of the Church and Ukraine, Ukrainian intellectuals appealed to Patriarch Emeritus Filaret to "delegate the discussion of all acute issues to the representative church bodies, as well as to refrain from public discussions, statements or interviews that can cast anxiety among Orthodox Ukrainians and please the enemies of the state."
However, this call was not heeded. The ruling hierarch of Kyivan parishes of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Emeritus Filaret, continues to give interviews in which he actually questions the legitimacy of the Church of which he is now a member. The same conclusion also follows from the official explanation by the "Press-Service of the Kyiv Patriarchate" (https://www.cerkva.info), which directly denies the fact of liquidation of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the UOC-KP as a whole, as well as the Kyiv Patriarchy of the UAOC.
On June 11, 2019, Filaret convened the so-called "Forum of Ukrainian Intellectuals", which aims to legitimize the idea of "resuscitation" of the UOC-KP. This will allow its proponents to conduct "the Local Council of the UOC-KP" and embark on restoring the hierarchy of the entity eliminated.
The Ukrainian intellectuals believe that all these interpretations and related actions of His Eminence Filaret are detrimental to Ukrainian Orthodoxy and, in fact, to the Ukrainian state as a whole. In fact, an attempt is made if not to take over the leadership of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, then to create a split in it, provoking internal church confrontation or even separation of the clergy and believers from the OCU, which actually meets demand of anti-Ukrainian forces.
We are sorry to note that such statements and actions of Patriarch Emeritus Filaret and his supporters also cause irreparable damage to the international image of the OCU, slow down or even completely curb the process of its recognition by other Orthodox Churches in the dyptich.
The intra-church hardships, provoked by Bishop Filaret, also negatively effect both domestic and Ukrainian development and quantitative growth of the OCU.
After the struggle for power led by former Patriarch of the UOC-KP Filaret entered its active phase (April-May), the transitions of church communities from the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate have actually ceased.
The Ukrainian intellectuals call on the Primate of the OCU, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy and members of the Holy Synod to take immediate and decisive canonical measures to curb any attempts to restore the self-liquidated UOC-KP and attempts to discredit the OCU on the part of some of its bishops and priests.
We also call on all concerned laity and clergymen of the OCU to respond more actively and publicly condemn any attempts to discredit the OCU or its statutory bodies, as well as to join the work on the development of the OCU in Ukraine and its recognition by other local Orthodox churches.
The appeal was signed by:
Director of Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature, Academic Mykola Zhulynskyi
Chairman of Taras Shevchenko All-Ukrainian Association Prosvita, writer Pavlo Movchan
Chairman of the Congress of Ukrainian Intellectuals, member of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, Professor Heorhiy Fylypchuk
Deputy Director of the Institute of Philosophy of NAS of Ukraine – Chairman of the Department of Religious Studies, Professor Anatoly Kolodnyy
Deputy Director of Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature, Candidate of Philology Serhiy Halchenko
Chairman of the Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the NASU, Professor Lyudmila Fylypovych
MP of several convocations, Ph. D. Lilia Hryhorovych
Ukrainian historian, MP of 1st convocation, Professor Arsen Zinchenko
Commander of a Maidan Sotnia, Doctor Taras Usatenko
Professor, Research Fellow of IP NASU Oleksandr Sahan
Professor, Research Fellow of IP NASU Vitaliy Shevchenko
Senior Research Fellow of IP NASU Vita Titarenko, PhD
Candidate in Philosophy, Senior Research Fellow of IP NASU Oksana Horkusha
Candidate in Philosophy, Associate Prof. Serhiy Prisukhin
Artist Natalia Pavlusenko
Candidate in Philology, PH.D. Candidate in History, Institute of Turkology of the Istanbul University Oles Kulchynsky
Candidate in History, Research Fellow Institute of History of Ukraine, NAS of Ukraine Tatiana Yevseeva
Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Club, member of the NWA of Ukraine Roman Kukharuk
Master of Theology, Archpriest Serhiy Tkachuk, chaplain of the Kyiv Regional Brotherhood of OUN-UPA, priest of OCU
Associate Professor of Ostroh Academy, Andriy Smirnov, PhD
Employee of the publishing house Spirit and Letter Daria Morozova
Candidate in Medicine Oleksyuk-Nehamas A. G., Chair of the Department of Clinical Disciplines of Lviv Medical Institute of Nursing, Revolution on granite participant
Co-founder of the Cerkvarium project Tetyana Derkach
Dean of the Department of International Economic Relations of Uzhhorod National University, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Mykola Palinchak
Assistant of the MP in the Ukrainian Parliament, Candidate in Political Sciences Olha Katan
Candidate in Philosophy, Associate Professor of NUSFSU, Hennadiy Khrystokin
Archpriest Volodymyr Buhrak of the OCU
Yevhen Khytruk
Svitlana Sotnichuk
