P.Ts.U. SYNOD EXPRESSES SUPPORT FOR METROPOLITAN EPIFANY AND MAKES NEW PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS
Religiia v Ukraine, 24 May 2019
On 24 May 2019, a regular session of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) was held in the Metropolitan's House of the Holy Wisdom cathedral in Kiev. All members of the Synod participated in the session, Religiia v Ukraine reports, citing Pomisna.info.
The following permanent members participated in the session: Metropolitan Filaret (he has the unofficial status of "honorary patriarch" in the PTsU), Metropolitan of Lvov Makary, and Metropolitan of Vinnytsia and Bar Simeon. The following temporary members also participated: Metropolitan of Lvov and Sokal Dimitry, Metropolitan of Cherkassy and Chigirin Ioann, Archbishop of Donetsk and Mariupol Sergei, Archbishop of Poltava and Kremenchug Fedor, Archbishop of Rovno and Ostrog Ilarion, Archbishop of Chernigov and Nezhin Evstraty, Archbishop of Kharkov and Khotin German, Archbishop of Vyshgorod Agapit, and Bishop of Dneprovsk and Krivorog Simeon.
Archbishop of Poltava and Kremenchug Fedor was appointed chairman of the synodal Department for Youth Affairs, Archbishoop of Ternopol and Kremenets Nestor was appointed chairman of the synodal Department for Relations with Patriotic Youth Public Associations, and Metropolitan of Lvov and Sokal Dimitry was appointed chairman of the Institute of Church History.
It was determined that in the course of a month, registration of the charters of the administrations of dioceses of the UPTs (PTsU) should be completed. Also the process of registration of new versions of charters of monasteries and ecclesiastical educational institutions of the UPTs (PTsU) was begun.
According to canonical procedure, foreign visits, particularly pilgrimages, should be conducted by bishops with the blessing of the primate of the PTsU, Metropolitan Epifany.
The Synod forbade bishops and priests to advance their candidacies for election to the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada or for offices of local administration where acceptance for permanent work is provided. At the same time, they are permitted in exceptional circumstances, with the blessing of church authorities, to run for election as deputies of bodies of local government, subject to certain conditions.
A decision was made for the celebration in 2019 of the 30th anniversary of the revival of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (19 Sept. 1989).
The previously elected as bishop Archimandrite Epifany (Dimitriu) will be consecrated Bishop of Olviia and vicar bishop of the primate of the PTsU to deal with the Greek-speaking flock in Ukraine.
It was clarified that in accordance with established procedure, the names of "His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifany and the ruling bishop of the diocese" should be raised in the liturgy in all churches of the UPTs (PTsU).
The Synod heard and adopted for information the report of the commission that studied the situation in the cathedral church of the Nativity of Christ in the city of Odessa.
The synod testified that in its life and activity, the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) is governed by Sacred Scripture and tradition, the canons of the Orthodox church, its own charter that was adopted by the unification council of 15 December 2018, the tomos concerning autocephaly of 6 January 2019 that was subsequently registered by the state, and the decisions of its own charter bodies.
It was noted that the local UPTs maintains internal unity and urges the episcopate, clergy, and faith to discuss all questions that arise and resolve them in a spirit of fraternal love commanded by God, avoiding inflaming of strife, confrontation, and division. The Synod also expressed full support for the primate of the UPTs (PTsU), Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Epifany.
Upon the conclusion of the session, Metropolitan Filaret declared to journalists that he will fulfill the decisions of the Synod, provided they accord with the "interests of the Ukrainian church."
We recall that the Synod session occurred against the backdrop of a conflict situation that occurred as the result of attempts of Metropolitan Filaret, the former patriarch of the UPTsKP, to head the PTsU. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 May 2019)
FILARET SPEAKS OF INFLUENCE OF ANTI-UKRAINIAN FORCES ON
EPIFANY
Interfax-Religiia,
24 May 2019
Filaret Denisenko, the "honorary patriarch" of the new
church
of Ukraine (PTsU), declared that anti-Ukrainian forces are
exerting influence
on its head, Metropolitan Epifany.
"Almost all decisions, which were made at the Synod,
were aimed at
there not being a Kiev patriarchate in Ukraine. What is
interesting is that the
forces (in the PTsU) that are influencing our primate,
Metropolitan Epifany,
are anti-Ukrainian and Muscovite, and they influence the primate
and therefore
such negative decisions are made," Filaret said after the
session of the
Synod of the PTsU on Friday in Kiev.
At the same time, Filaret refused to be specific as to
just who he has
in mind while speaking about anti-Ukrainian forces.
He also repeated his previously expressed disagreement
with points of
the tomos about the subordination of the PTsU. "Thanks to the
ecumenical
patriarch for the tomos, which he gave, but I do not agree with
everything that
is written in the tomos," Filaret declared, emphasizing that he
accepts
the tomos only in that part that gives autocephaly to the
Ukrainian church.
As regards decisions of the Synod, Filaret noted that he will fulfill those decision that do not contradict the canons and interests of the Ukrainian church. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 May 2019)
P.Ts.U. SYNOD UNANIMOUS IN ITS DECISIONS, EXCEPT
VLADYKA FILARET
There is no dual-power in the PTsU, although Honorary
Patriarch Filaret
did not support the decision of today's Holy Synod.
This was declared at a briefing by the primate of the
PTsU,
Metropolitan Epifany.
"The Synod showed that in its future life and
activity, the PTsU
will be guided by Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the
charter, which
was adopted on 15 November within the walls of the sacred Kiev
Sophia. We were
nearly all unanimous in the previous decisions, but the last
decisions were not
signed by just one member, Patriarch Filaret," the first
hierarch
reported.
He said that Synod members discussed the situation in
the church,
particularly the latest statements by Vladyka Filaret.
"We discussed the situation that has arisen in the
PTsU, and those
statements that have been heard in the course of recent days.
The patriarch
confirmed at a session of the Holy Synod what he made public
earlier: that the
Kiev patriarchate exists and that he has not cancelled its
registration. We all
tried to persuade him and to show that legally and actually
the UPTsKP is no
more and that the Kiev patriarchate lay at the base of the
local Orthodox
church. Therefore to a certain degree we discussed, talked,
cajoled, but
everyone saw that His Holiness Patriarch Filaret,
unfortunately, remains in his
opinion," Metropolitan Epifany said.
Despite these disagreements, in Metropolitan Eifany's
opinion, there is
no dual-power in the church. "There is a primate who conducts
the
administration of the PTsU.
It was agreed with Patriarch Filaret that the parishes
of the city of
Kiev and those parishes that were subordinate to him as the
diocesan bishop
before 15 December will remain within its structure.
We respect His Holiness Patriarch Filaret. It was my personal decision and wish to leave the parishes composing the Kiev diocese for him. We did and we will do everything possible so that His Holiness Patriarch Filaret, who has put so much effort into the development of the PTsU, will feel not only spiritually comforted but also materially," the PTsU primate noted. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 May 2019)
R.P.Ts. COMMENTS ON ELECTION OF GREEK BISHOP OF NEW
CHURCH OF UKRAINE
The election of an archimandrite of the Greek Orthodox
Church as
"bishop" of the new church of Ukraine will not add to its
canonicity
and will not facilitate the unity of world Orthodoxy, declared
the head of the
synod's Department of Relations of Church with Society and News
Media of the
Moscow patriarchate, Vladimir Legoida.
Earlier the Greek church news agency Romfeia reported
that at the Synod
of the new church of Ukraine held on Friday, for the first time
a clergyman of
another local church was chosen as a bishop, a cleric of the
Demetriada and
Almire metropolia of the Greek church, Archimandrite Epifany.
"The PTsU
Synod decided that if one Epifany (the head of the new church,
Epifany Dumenko)
is good, two is even better, and elected a cleric of the Greek
Orthodox Church,
Archimandrite Epifany, a bishop of the PTsU. They calculate that
clerics of
canonical Orthodox churches, by their presence in the episcopate
of the
splintering PTsU, add to its canonicity, which will facilitate
the recognition
of this structure by other churches," Legoida wrote in his
Telegram channel.
"In fact, they simply expand the ranks of schismatics and place
under
threat the unity of world Orthodoxy," the representative of the
RPTs
added. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 24 May 2019)
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