Head of UOC-KP: OCU won’t be further recognized by any Church

Filaret Denisenko and Epiphany Dumenko. Photo: 24.ua

On November 18, 2020, the head of the Kyiv Patriarchate, Filaret Denisenko, announced that the OCU would be no further recognized by any Local Orthodox Church. The head of the UOC-KP spoke about this during a press conference organized by the Interfax-Ukraina publication.

Answering the journalist's question about the recognition of the OCU by the Cypriot Church, Denisenko said that there is a split in this Church: “One part of the Cypriot Church recognizes the OCU, but there is a part of the bishops who are opposed to it and now there is some confrontation.”

“In this regard, I want to say that the OCU, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, will be no further recognized by any Church. Why so? Because if it recognizes this Tomos, then it will recognize the supremacy of power of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Orthodoxy,” Filaret stressed.

In his opinion, “if some Church decides that the Patriarch of Constantinople is not only the first in honor, but also the first in power, this will damage the purity of Orthodoxy. Therefore, the Churches will not agree to this."

“Why is it two years now, but the Tomos, given by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, has not been recognized by the overwhelming majority of Churches, except for three?” Denisenko asks.

“The reason why they are unwilling to recognize it is that the Tomos enshrines the supremacy of power of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Consequently, there will be no further recognition of the OCU. And if any Local Church does it, it will recognize the supremacy of power of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Orthodoxy,” summed up the head of the UOC-KP.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Filaret Denisenko, Patriarch Bartholomew has departed from the purity of Orthodoxy.

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