"The assembly that gathered today at Flilaret’s personal will has
neither legal nor canonical effects for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
This is not a split, a small part of the OCU branched out into a new
structure and named it the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate, but it is not the
UOC-KP and cannot be it. This assembly cannot question the validity of
the Tomos or the authority of the OCU. The only consequence of this
action is that Filaret will no longer have any powers in the OCU,” the
OCU responded to today’s Council held by Filaret.
Regarding the claims to property that were made at the Council,
Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zorya) emphasized at a briefing that the new
Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate declared today, has no property
according to the legislation because it belongs to legal entities, that
is, monasteries, communities, religious organizations, structures that
are required to enter and enter the OCU. Therefore, property claims of
Filaret’s new entity under the name of the 'UOC-KP' are groundless.”
Concerning the two bishops elected by Filaret’s Council, the OCU
claims that such ordinations would be invalid for the OCU. Therefore
these and future "seekers of the bishop’s rank in this discontinues
structure" should make appropriate conclusions for themselves.
Archbishop Yevstratiy said that the Synod of the OCU, which will take
place on Monday in St Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral, will give an
appropriate assessment of all these events.