Filaret: We convene Local Council of the Kiev Patriarchate
Proponents of the UOC KP are planning to hold a “Council” in support of their church structure and appeal to the President of Ukraine to back them.
On June 20, 2019, the "honorary patriarch" of the OCU Filaret Denisenko plans to convene the "Local Council" of the Kiev Patriarchate, reported the news agency BBC News. Ukraine.
“We are convening a local council, at which we will not approve the decision of the Council, which was held on December 15, 2018. Therefore, it is not binding for us. By this act we show that the Kiev Patriarchate was, is and will be. We are going to convene the council on June 20,” Filaret said during the work of the forum “For the Ukrainian Orthodox Church! For the Kiev Patriarchate”.
This will be the Local Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, not of the OCU, the “honorary patriarch” of the newly created religious organization emphasized.
“On December 15, there was no council of the Kiev Patriarchate, but there was a collection of signatures under the resolution of the local council. We will repudiate this resolution at the local council and it will be invalid for us,” he shared his plans with the journalists.
According to Filaret, this will allow “to preserve the Kiev Patriarchate. Though it will be small, it will grow into a big church.”
The participants of the forum, which was convened by the “honorary patriarch” of the OCU, also intend to appeal to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky and ask him “to support the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate from any encroachment”.
With reference to its own sources of the OCU, the media reported that such a “council” would possibly include “Metropolitan Joasaph of Belgorod and Oboyan”, a “bishop” from the former parishes of the UOC KP in Russia, and a small part of the “clergymen” of Filaret-led Kiev Eparchy of the OCU.
Earlier, Filaret stated that the decision to terminate the activities of the UOC KP had not been filed with the state registration bodies; therefore, the Kiev Patriarchate continues to exist.
On June 9, 2019, Filaret Denisenko once again declared that "no forces will destroy the Kiev Patriarchate, because God stands behind it." The “Honorary Patriarch” also told why he was sure that he had created the UOC KP “according to God's instructions”.
On June 11, 2019, the UOC KP held a forum in support of their religious organization. According to the statements of the UOC KP, the event was initiated by “the general public”.
