Filaret: Phanar can revoke Tomos

"Patriarch of Kiev and All Rus-Ukraine" Filaret Denisenko. Photo: ZIK

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople may well take the Tomos from the OCU, especially since the Phanar has already acted in a similar way earlier, the head of the Kiev Patriarchate Filaret Denisenko said in an interview with the “ZIK” TV channel.

“It depends on the Ecumenical Patriarch. It depends on him. He can revoke the Tomos as the Patriarch of Constantinople once revoked the Tomos of the Romanian Church, which did not agree to take myrrh from the Church of Constantinople. It did not agree. Then the Ecumenical Patriarch withdrew the Tomos but after some time returned it. The Ecumenical Patriarch has such an opportunity,” Filaret said.

In his opinion, such a decision of the Ecumenical Patriarch is beneficial to Moscow.

“If he does this, then Moscow will triumph and say: “Well, we said that the Tomos should not have been given to the Ukrainian Church. You did not listen to us. And you yourselves could see that the Ukrainian Church should not have been given the Tomos of autocephaly”,  assumed the “Patriarch of Kiev and All Rus-Ukraine”.

He clarified that another scenario is possible when the Phanar will grant a “real Tomos” to the Kiev Patriarchate as other Local Churches have. According to the head of the UOC KP, such actions of Constantinople can unite "all Ukrainian Orthodoxy" since everyone will immediately want to join the Kiev Patriarchate.

“If the Tomos is granted to the present Kiev Patriarchate, it will really lead to the unification of all Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Because we are becoming a legal, canonical, autocephalous Church. And everyone who does not belong to it should join it,” Filaret stressed.

At the same time, the “real” Tomos must be bestowed “not to the metropolis but to the patriarchate” since the “Ukrainian Church is large”, according to “the Patriarch of Kiev and All Rus-Ukraine”

“If there are small patriarchates, then the big Ukrainian Church has a greater right to the patriarchate,” he concluded.

Earlier, Filaret said that the Patriarchate of Constantinople had violated his rights and the Tomos given to the OCU brought one division to Ukraine.

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