OCU Bishop: On Monday, Patriarch Emeritus Filaret may try to revive UOC-KP

On Monday, June 3, Patriarch Emeritus Filaret convenes all priests of Kyiv. He is expected to demand from them an oath of allegiance to the Kyiv Patriarchate.

Bishop Adrian (Kulyk) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine wrote it on Facebook, according to Glavkom.

“I receive calls from priest-rectors of the churches of Kyiv, which are still (formally) under the direction of the former Kyiv Metropolitan Filaret (Patriarch Emeritus), who ask me a question: “Vladyka, Filaret calls all the priests of Kyiv to his residence at Pushkinska str, 36 on Monday at 11 o'clock. He will demand from us (by way of blackmail / intimidation / threats) that we sign an oath of allegiance to the UOC-KP and him personally as a patriarch of the Kyiv Patriarchate. What should we do?” says the bishop of the OCU.

At the same time, he notes that the churches in Kyiv are only formally subjected to Filaret. And he advised the priests to decide for themselves whether to follow Filaret, who wants to revive the UOC-KP, or to remain in the recognized Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

As reported, Bishop Filaret believes that the Kyiv Patriarchate continues to exist. He continues to issue documents on the letterheads of the non-existent UOC-KP, criticizes the Head of the OCU, Metropoilitan Epifaniy, and expresses disagreement with some provisions of the Tomos and the Charter.