European Deanery of UOC-KP demands Ukraine-Phanar agreement be cancelled

The European Deanery of the UOC-KP hopes for the help of the Verkhovna Rada. Photo: facebook.com / KyivPatriarchate

"Archpriest" Vladimir Chaika called on the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmitry Razumkov, to help restore the registration of the UOC-KP and initiate the cancellation of the Agreement on Cooperation and Interaction signed by ex-President Petro Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew on November 3, 2018. An open letter from the head of the European Deanery of the UOC-KP dated November 2, 2020, was published on the Facebook page of the liquidated religious organization.

The "Archpriest" stressed that the expected unification into a single Orthodox Church in Ukraine did not happen, and the created OCU still does not have canonical communion with the fullness of Orthodoxy. At the same time, according to him, the Patriarchate of Constantinople still received all the privileges in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian diaspora around the world was deprived of the opportunity "to belong to their Orthodox Church", which is "an encroachment on the dignity of the Ukrainian people and on the right to faith".

He also stated that the Tomos granted to the OCU threw Ukraine "1000 years into the past, into nowhere since Constantinople no longer exists as a Christian Orthodox state", and "millions of Ukrainians abroad and stauropegic temples" are an unfair and inappropriate payment for the returned status of the Metropolis of Constantinople.

Vladimir Chaika called the restoration of Filaret by Constantinople "in his canonical rights" and the acceptance of "the clergy and believers with him into Eucharistic communion" insincere, aimed at "achieving his own benefit in Ukraine to increase his local Church by inviting millions of Ukrainians abroad". In addition, he says, under pressure from Constantinople, representatives of the UOC-KP abroad "are denied the use of churches even for a fee".

As “responsible for the Kyiv Patriarchate in Europe”, Vladimir Chaika, on behalf of “the clergy and believers of Ukrainians in the diaspora”, called on Dmitry Razumkov to initiate the restoration of the registration of the UOC-KP as a legal entity and the people's deputies of Ukraine of all factions to support and protect the rights of “believers from the destruction of their Church and raider seizures".

“I ask you to raise the issue of terminating the Agreement on Cooperation and Interaction between Ukraine and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, signed on November 3, 2018, in Phanar by the former President of Ukraine and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople as such that does not meet the national interests of the Ukrainian people, on the basis of not keeping promises on the part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. For until the envisaged unification takes place and valid autocephaly is granted, with the same rights as in other local churches, recognized by the fullness of Orthodoxy, the granting of special privileges to the Patriarchate of Constantinople for the use of stauropegic temples, buildings, etc., has no fair justification," said the representative of the European Deanery of the UOC-KP.

As reported by the UOJ, earlier the head of the European Deanery of the UOC-KP said that the OCU exchanged Ukrainians abroad for the Tomos.

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