Filaret on who will own Church property after Tomos granted

Head of the UOC KP Filaret

State property will belong to the one who the state will transfer it to: if transferred to the Ukrainian unified Church, this Church will use the property. Filaret said this in an interview with the Ukrainian service of the "Voice of America". 

"The property belongs to the communities as the property of religious communities, and the property belongs to the state, which gives churches, temples, monasteries, lavras for use," says the head of the Kiev Patriarchate.

According to him, if the community "does not transfer to the Ukrainian Church, it remains with its property in the Russian Church. Because this property is the property of the community".

"As for the state property – architectural monuments and so on – this property will belong to the one who the state will transfer it to. If given to the Russian Orthodox Church for use, the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church will use it. If to the Ukrainian unified Church, this property will be used by the unified Ukrainian Church," Filaret explained. As an example, he mentioned the Kiev-Pechersk and Pochaev Lavras, as well as temples and monuments of architecture that belong to the state.

Answering a question about Ukrainian churches abroad, the head of the UOC KP said that each parish will make its own decision: "Abroad – in America, Canada, Europe there are parishes that belong to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. They will remain with it. And those who will be willing to be with the Ukrainian Church – we will not reject them."

As the UOJ reported, earlier Filaret in his speech to the Americans thanked the US for supporting the intention of Patriarch Bartholomew to grant the Tomos on autocephaly and expressed the hope that the US "will help us see the church issue through".

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