Archbishop Job (Getcha): Phanar did not recognize UOC KP and UAOC

Head of the UOC KP Filaret and head of the UAOC Makariy

The Synod of the Church of Constantinople did not legitimize the Kiev "patriarchate" and the UAOC. This was stated by the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches, Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos in an interview with the BBC.

“We did not recognize Filaret and Makariy as primates of their churches, we did not say that the UOC KP or the UAOC are legitimate because it would be very inconsistent: it would mean that we recognized two parallel church structures on par with with the third canonical structure, which would be the Moscow Patriarchate,” said the Phanar’s hierarch.

Archbishop Job also clarified that "these bishops were reinstated to their hierarchical rank in the bosom of the Universal Church." At the same time, the hierarch of Phanar failed to mention that the head of the UAOC, Makariy Maletich, could not be reinstated to the status of bishop, because at the time of his excommunication he was a priest. The “ordination” of Maletich to the rank of “bishop” took place only in 1996 in the structure of the UAOC, unrecognized by Constantinople itself.

According to the official communique of Phanar, the hierarchs of the Church of Constantinople decided to canonically reinstate Filaret Denisenko and Makariy Maletich “to their hierarchical or priestly rank”. Andreas Ludaros, editor-in-chief of the Greek Orthodoxia.info website, stated that there was no hint of recognition of the Kiev “patriarchate” in the text of the Phanar’s decision as for removal of the anathema.

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