"BAD EXAMPLE FOR BISHOPS OF CHURCH." FILARET ACCUSES
EPIFANY
OF VIOLATION OF CANONS WHICH WILL LEAD TO DESTRUCTION OF P.Ts.U.
The primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PTsU),
Metropolitan
Epifany, issued an order according to which documents of the
Ukrainian Orthodox
Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UPTsKP) issued after 30 January
2019 are
considered invalid. The honorary patriarch of the PTsU, the
former primate of
UPTsKP, Filaret, declared that such actions of Epifany will not
lead to "the
unity of the church and of the whole of Ukrainian Orthodoxy."
The honorary patriarch of the Orthodox Church of
Ukraine, the former
primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev
Patriarchate, Filaret,
accused the PTsU primate, Epifany, of violation of Orthodox
Tradition and
canons. This was stated in a letter that Filaret sent to
Epifany.
"I received your order concerning the acceptance into
your diocese
of Archpriest Alexander Trofimliuk (who was banned from the
clergy by me) and
the parish of the Holy Protection on Solomenok, with its clergy,
without a
certificate of dismissal. This gives me occasion to express my
regret that you
have begun your ministry as primate with a violation of your
episcopal oath and
of Orthodox church tradition and thereby you give a bad example
for the bishops
of our church," the letter says.
In Filaret's opinion, such actions by Epifany will not
lead to
"the unity of the church and of the whole of Ukrainian
Orthodoxy."
"They can lead to the destruction of that which led to
the grant
of a tomos concerning autocephaly and to your election to the
office of
primate," he added.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was created at a
unification council on
15 December 2018 in which all bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church of the
Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox
Church (UAPTs)
participated, as well as two bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church of the
Moscow Patriarchate (UPTsMP). On 5 January 2019, Ecumenical
Patriarch
Bartholomew signed a tomos concerning the autocephaly of the
PTsU and on 6
January he delivered it to the primate of the PTsU, Metropolitan
Epifany, in
Istanbul. The enthronement of Epifany was held on 3 February
2019.
In May, a conflict arose between Filaret and Epifany.
The honorary
patriarch of the PTsU declared that the Kiev patriarchate had
not been
liquidated and it permitted the separation of the UPTsKP from
the PTsU.
According to Filaret, before the unification council an
agreement had been
reached that the patriarch will administer church activity
within the country
and the primate will be responsible for external representation
of the PTsU.
These agreements were not kept by the primate of the PTsU,
Filaret noted.
Epifany stated that it is incorrect to speak of the
restoration of the
Kiev patriarchate, inasmuch as this could lead to the isolation
of the PTsU and
the cancellation of its tomos concerning autocephaly and "of all
the
achievements of church independence." He assured that there is
no schism
in the PTsU.
On 24 May, a Synod of the PTsU was held in Kiev.
Regarding its results,
Epifany noted that the bishops had not managed to persuade
Filaret that the
UPTsKP "legally and actually already does not exist."
After the Synod, Filaret suggested that "anti-Ukrainian
and
Muscovite forces" are influencing Epifany.
At the same time, on 25 May Filaret participated in a
liturgy on the
name day (day of the angel) of Epifany, where they prayed
together.
On 29 May it was learned that Epifany issued an order according to which the documents of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate that were issued after 30 January 2019 are considered invalid. He noted that Filaret did not prepare and did not submit documents for the reregistration of the Kiev diocese of the PTsU, which he administers. (tr. by PDS, posted 31 May 2019)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.