There is no division of power in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,
although Patriarch Emeritus Filaret did not support the decision of
today's Holy Synod.
Primate of the OCU Epifaniy (Dumenko) said this at a briefing.
“The Synod has shown that in its subsequent life and activities, the
OCU will be governed by the Holy Scriptures and the Charter, which was
adopted on December 15, 2018 within the walls of St. Sophia of Kyiv. We
were virtually unanimous in previous decisions, but the latest decisions
were not signed by only one member – Patriarch Filaret,” said the
Primate.
According to him, the participants of the Synod discussed the
situation in the Church, in particular the recent statements of Bishop
Filaret. “We discussed the situation prevailing in the OCU and the
statements that were made during the last days. The patriarch testified
at the meeting of the Holy Synod that he had previously made a public
statement that the Kyiv Patriarchate exists that it had not been removed
from the register. We all tried to persuade, to prove that there is no
legal and actual UOC-KP, that the Kyiv Patriarchate was the basis of the
Local Orthodox Church. Therefore, to a certain extent, we discussed,
spoke, persuaded, but everyone saw that His Holiness Patriarch Filaret,
unfortunately, remained firmly established in his mind,” said
Metropolitan Epifaniy.
Despite these differences, according to Metropolitan Epifaniy, there is no dual power in the Church.
“There is a Primate, who is managing the OCU.
It has been agreed with Patriarch Filaret that he retains the
parishes of Kyiv and those parishes that had been subject to him as a
diocesan bishop before December 15.
We respect His Holiness Patriarch Filaret. This was my personal
decision and desire to let him retain parishes in the Kyiv diocese. We
did and will do everything to ensure that His Holiness Patriarch
Filaret, who has put a lot of efforts to the development of the OCU,
felt himself not only spiritually comfortable, but also materially
well-off,” the OCU head said.