The recent split within the recently-created ‘independent’ Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) continues to cause more and more scandals in the country’s religious sphere.
In an interview with Ukrainain Radio, Patriarch Filaret, the leader of the Kiev Patriarchate and one of the groups involved in the ongoing struggle for money and power, described the tomos of authocephaly received by the OCU from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as fake. He recalled that no local church besides Constantinople recognized the OCU and admitted that the OCU is a non-canonical organziation.
Describing the situation with the creation of the OCU, he said that the tomos has caused more problems that it has solved. However, Filaret repeated his claims that the Ukrainian state needs its own ‘independent cuhrch’, but the right one – the Kiev Patriarchate. The non-canonical structure led by Filaret was one of the creators of the OCU, but then it led the organization because of an acute conflict for power and finances with the group led by the technical OCU head – Metropolitan Epiphanius.
Currently, the sides are focused on blaiming each other for the failure of the OCU project and struggling for control of financial flows of the OCU and Kiev Patriarchate cuhrches.
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Hey Mr. Denisenko, careful before you open this box. Next thing you know the rubes will figure out that God is fake as well, i.e., all made up. How about you, Epiphanius, and Kirill settle this Old School: meet on a volcanic planet and we’ll see in whom the Force is strongest.