FILARET ACCUSES EPIFANY OF VIOLATING CANONS AND HEAD OF
DEPARTMENT FOR
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS OF INTERFERENCE IN CHURCH AFFAIRS
Religiia
v Ukraine, 30 May 2019
On 29 May, the website of the former UPTsKP,
Tserkva.info, published a
letter by Filaret, a metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of
Ukraine (PTsU) with
the unofficial title of "honorary patriarch," to the primate of
the
PTsU, Metropolitan Epifany, and also a statement of the "press
service of
the Kiev patriarchate" addressed to the head of the Department
for Affairs
of Religions and Nationalities of the Ukrainian Ministry of
Culture, Andrei
Yurash. Both statements continue the conflict in the PTsU
regarding the
power-sharing arrangement of Filaret and Epifany, Religiia v
Ukraine reports.
Filaret's letter to Epifany says that the latter does
not have the
right to transfer under his authority a cleric of the Kiev
diocese, Archpriest
Alexander Trofimliuk, the rector of the Kiev Orthodox
Theological Academy of
the PTsU, whom Filaret inhibited from ministry against the
backdrop of the
conflict with Epifany. Yesterday Epifany declared invalid
Filaret's order,
which the latter issued in the name of the UPTsKP.
In another note on the former website of the
UPTsKP—"Statement of
the press service of the Kiev patriarchate regarding statements
of the head of
the Department for Affairs of Religions and Nationalities
A.V.Yurash"—Andrei Yurash is accused of stating on the social
network
Facebook the following idea: "It seems that movements have begun
which
insert deliberate disinformation and have the goal of creating a
structure that
is not under the control of the legitimate church center. If
this information is
accurate, then it turns out that within the church leadership
there is no other
option than an urgent convocation, literally tomorrow, of
another Synod of the
church and finding adequate responses to actions that may
destroy church
unity."
The "press service of the Kiev patriarchate" assessed
this
statement in the following way: "This summons is state
interference in
internal church affairs which violates the freedom and rights of
the church.
Such expressions and statements introduce disinformation into
Ukrainian society
and have a destructive character for the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church. Therefore
we call A.V. Yurash, and also other state servants, to refrain
from such
statements, which harm the Ukrainian church."
Andrei Yurash reacted to the statement in the following
commentary of
30 May: "Interference is direct orders or instructions. In my
case, there
was only the advice of a person who for 30 years now has been
directly involved
in church matters and affairs. Therefore the 'disinformation,"
which has
'a destructive character,' is not my appeal and reflection but
this
'statement.' Second. For the hundredth time now at all levels,
including by the
official statement of the Ministry of Culture and yesterday's
order by the
primate of the UPTs (PTsU), it has been stressed that such a
church as the
UPTsKP has not existed de facto since 15 December of last year
and de jure
since 30 January of this year. Therefore the 'press service of
the Kiev patriarchate'
does not exist in any dimension and also de facto is not
deserving of serious
attention, along with any statements of such a virtual,
nonexistent press
service of the church. . . ."
Yesterday, 28 May, a reprint of a report from the Facebook page of Metropolitan of Belgorod and Oboiansk Ioasaf, a former hierarch of the UPTsKP from Russia, appeared on the website of the former UPTsKP. On 14 May he participated in a meeting called by Filaret as a counterweight to Epifany. In this note Ioasaf expressed "categorical disagreement" with the decisions of the Synod of the PTsU of 24 May about the position of a new bishop—Epifany—for the Greek-speaking believers of the PTsU and also about the commemoration in PTsU churches in the liturgy only of the primate of the church and the local bishop. Ioasaf wanted the obligatory commemoration of Filaret also in all churches. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 May 2019)
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