OCU calls on military chaplains to ignore 'Council of UOC-KP' convened by Filaret
On June 18, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine called on military chaplains not to participate in the Local Council of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate that Patriarch Emeritus Filaret is to hold on June 20. This was stated in the message posted by the Chairman of the Synodal Department of the Military Clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on his Facebook page.
"Given the intention to convene a Local Council of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate, we call on all military priests (chaplains) who wish the good for the Church and Ukraine not to take any part in the activities and actions that destroy the unity of the Local UOC," the message reads.
The military clergy of the OCU reminded that the decision of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine of February 15, 2019, supported the pastoral activity of military priests (chaplains) in the Synodal Department for Military Clergy.
"Thus, all chaplains involved in missionary activity among the military personnel of all law-enforcement bodies of Ukraine, are clergymen of the unified Orthodox Church of Ukraine and can't take part in this assembly," goes the message.
As RISU has already reported, Filaret plans to hold on June 20 at 11-00 am at St Volodymyr Cathedral of Kyiv the so-called "Local Council of the UOC-KP" and to reconsider the decisions of the Local Council of the UOC-KP of December 15, 2018, that paved the way for the unification of the Orthodox into the one Orthodox Church in Ukraine; and resulted in the issuance of the Tomos of autocephaly and recognition by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Patriarch Emeritus Filaret was dissatisfied with this and decided to restore the UOC-KP, and to make himself not a Patriarch Emeritus but an effective Patriarch.
It should be kept in mind that Filaret has invited to the "Local Council of the UOC-KP" the clergymen of Kyiv, and threatens to dismiss from the parishes all those who fail to attend.The OCU has already stated that in the event that "Local Council of the UOC-KP" is held, all its participants will incur relevant canonical and legal sanctions.
