Filaret defines the condition for autocephaly: to deprive UOC of the name
The head of the Kiev Patriarchate said that the state is obliged to compel the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to rename.
During a press conference in Lutsk, the head of the UOC-KP, the so-called "Patriarch" Filaret, said that one of the prerequisites for the creation of the SLC should be to deprive the canonical UOC of its name.
"This must be a condition for the state, that the Church is not Ukrainian. Because there is nothing Ukrainian there. Once you serve the Russian Church, you should be called Russian," Filaret told journalists. "Who, living in Ukraine, wants to be in this Church and serve Russia, let them serve, but they know that we treat such as the "fifth column"."
Also, the leader of schismatics once again confirmed the intention to transfer Ukrainian lavras to their jurisdiction. According to him, the state, thanks to the laws adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, will be able to "transfer" the Pochaev and Kiev-Pechersk Lavras to the newly formed Church.
In addition to talking to journalists, Filaret held a service in Lutsk, after which he addressed his "flock" with a welcome word, in which he admitted that the Kiev Patriarchate is an organization unrecognized in the Orthodox world. "Our Church is autocephalous, great, but still not recognized. And we need this Tomos on autocephaly as recognition of our Church by the world Orthodoxy," Filaret said. "We pray that the Lord will continue to inspire the Ecumenical Patriarch not to step back from his intention. And to encourage our President and the Verkhovna Rada to bring this matter to the end."
Not so long ago, Filaret said that the Kiev Patriarchate does not want to be subordinate to Constantinople. At the same time, the spokesperson of the UOC KP Eustratii Zoria stressed that the schismatics see only Filaret at the head of the newly created SLC. He also accused of corruption the hierarchs of Local Orthodox Churches who do not recognize the Kiev Patriarchate.
