Filaret: Not a single Local Church recognizes OCU

“Honorary Patriarch” of the OCU Filaret

On May 15, 2019, head of the UOC KP Filaret Denisenko convened a press conference in Kiev, during which he commented on the state of affairs in the OCU. The press conference was broadcast on Youtube Channel 5.

He stressed that the new leadership of the OCU wants to eliminate the UOC KP in order to be recognized.

“Now you are saying that we need the recognition of other Churches. And we need to destroy the Kiev Patriarchate so that other Churches would recognize us. Is it true or not? It is not true.

None of the other Churches recognizes the Ukrainian Church not only as a patriarchy, but also as a Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU – Ed.). And we can see it in reality.

Even those Churches, which tended to recognize the Ukrainian Church as autocephalous provided the Ecumenical Patriarch gives Tomos, now refuse to do it, not openly, but under various pretexts.

Neither the Greek, nor the Cyprian, nor the Jerusalem, nor the Alexandrian Churches have a prayerful communion with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, not to speak of the Serbian and Bulgarian Churches.

So far I can see no avenues for the OCU to be recognized,” Filaret said.

As the UOJ reported, on May 14, 2019, the “honorary patriarch” of the OCU, Filaret Denisenko, published an official address “to the entire Ukrainian Orthodox flock” on the website of the Kiev Patriarchate.

In his address, Filaret once again stressed that the Kiev Patriarchate does not need to be reinstated, since it still exists. To substantiate it, the “honorary patriarch” recalled: the UOC KP is still registered with the state bodies of Ukraine.

Denisenko explained the conflict that arose in the newly created OCU by disobedience of the head of this religious organization, Epiphany Dumenko.

“The newly elected Primate of the UOC Metropolitan Epiphany does not comply with the agreements that were reached at the Council on December 15, 2018, in the Cathedral of St. Sofia,” the “honorary patriarch” explained.

On May 12, 2019, Filaret stated that he admits the possibility of a split within the OCU. “I assume the likelihood of the separation of the Church, but we are creating a single Church – Kiev Patriarchate,” he stressed.

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