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Filaret considers it unlikely that Ecumenical Patriarch will withdraw Tomos

15.05.2019, 12:51
“I do not believe that Tomos will be withdrawn because the withdrawal of Tomos will strike at the Ecumenical Patriarchate itself,” said ex-patriarch Filaret at a press conference on May 15.

“I do not believe that Tomos will be withdrawn because the withdrawal of Tomos will strike at the Ecumenical Patriarchate itself,” said ex-patriarch Filaret at a press conference on May 15.

“I do not see any threat. During 25 years, the Ecumenical Patriarch had not settled for granting the Tomos to the Ukrainian Church, but the time had come and he agreed. In the future, the Kyiv Patriarchate will exist because our Church is large. More than 30 million Orthodox Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine, and so many outside Ukraine. Therefore, not recognizing such a Church is a strike at the fullness of Orthodoxy. The one unified Ukrainian Church is larger than all Orthodox Churches in the world: Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian Churches. It is only smaller than the Russian Church, so it is impossible not to recognize such a Church. If the Ukrainian Church is rejected, then a strike will be launched at the fullness of universal Orthodoxy.”

Filaret stressed that initially the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was supposed to be part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in order to obtain from it the Tomos of autocephaly. Without this, the Council of the OCU would not have been canonical. Now that the Tomos of autocephaly is received, the ex-patriarch of the UOC-KP asserts, the OCU may already proclaim its Patriarchate itself and now it does not need to coordinate its actions and the Charter with Constantinople.

It should be added that it is not envisaged in Tomos itself.

Filaret does not think that Constantinople can punish him for amending the Charter and declares:

“I did not cheat the Ecumenical Patriarch. I accept the Tomos of autocephaly of the UOC in the status of the Kyiv Metropolis. So, you cannot blame me for not accepting the Tomos. In the future, we want to become a patriarchate. To do this, we must work for the unification, as the Ecumenical Patriarch wants. In order to create the one Church, I propose the way I have outlined. As a patriarch, I should lead the OCU in Ukraine, and Epiphanius decided to lead it himself. He is not just holding the patriarch away, but fails to coordinate his actions with me. Even at the first Synod they considered the possibility to retire me. I never agreed to this!”

Filaret also does not consider that he splits the OCU by his actions, “I do not think that I trigger the split. On the contrary, I do everything to preserve the Ukrainian Church that we build. I am the enemy of split, and on the contrary, I do everything to make the Church unified.”

The ex-head of the UOC-KP blamed Metropolitan Epifaniy for "not leading the Church himself, but being controlled,” without specifying who exactly controls the Primate of the OCU.

Concerning the Local Council of the OCU -- which Filaret wants to convene to make amendments to the Charter of the OCU and then proclaim the Patriarchate -- as he said, it depends on the Synod of the OCU, “When the Synod will be determined, then it will be.” At the same time, Filaret did not specify how many hierarchs of the OCU might support such an idea, “I am not interested in how many bishops support me in this.”

And at the end of the press conference he said, "I will not render unto Caesar the things which are God’s.”