Filaret recalls signature under Kyiv Patriarchate liquidation

The honorary Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Filaret, has recalled his signature under a resolution by the Kyiv Patriarchate’s UOC local council, dated Dec. 15, 2018, to liquidate this church.

“This resolution is invoked by Ukrainian Culture Ministry officials who have denied state registration to a resolution by the local council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, dated June 20, 2019, overturning the Dec. 15, 2018 resolution by the so-called local council of the KP-UOC. This led Patriarch Filaret to inform Ukrainian Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports Volodymyr Borodiansky of having recalled his signature under the Dec. 15, 2018 resolution,” the KP-UOC stated on its website on Jan. 10.

Filaret wrote to Borodiansky that despite numerous attempts to have the June 20 resolution registered, the ministry’s state secretary had refused to do so, and the resolution was eventually abolished by another, of June 20, 2019.

“A recall of signature is an acceptable legal act justified by Articles 9 and 13 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Articles 22 and 35 of the Ukrainian Constitution, which make it impossible to worsen the legal position of Ukrainian citizens exercising the right to freedom of conscience in the Kyiv Patriarchate,” Filaret said.

Over the past few months the patriarch has stated that the KP-UOC continued to exist and he had no intention of complying with the three tomos conditions for the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

“On June 20, a meeting held by Filaret under the title of the Local Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate overturned the Dec. 15 resolution, and Filaret himself allowed for the co-existence of the three churches in Ukraine. Should the OCU led by Metropolitan Epiphanius wish to merge with the KP-UOC, no one will object; otherwise, the OCU may exist separately,” Filaret said.

The OCU has refused to recognize meetings attended by Filaret at local councils and their resolutions as legally and canonically valid. On June 24, its synod resolved that Filaret remained an OCU bishop but could no longer lead the Kyiv diocese.

In December, the OCU synod decided to set up an OCU mission for Filaret. He also has a life-long right to perform religious services at St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv. The council urged Filaret and his entourage to make peace and end the self-imposed isolation.

— Source: kyivpost.com

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