Filaret: History proves that Phanar has no right to lead other Churches

Head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko. Photo: capital.ua

On June 20, 2020, the head of the UOC-KP Filaret Denisenko said that from a historical point of view, all the claims of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to lead other Churches are baseless. He spoke about this in an interview with ZIK.

Answering the question of why the OCU should resolve its issues with the Patriarch of Constantinople, Filaret noted that it was necessary for the Phanar “to show that the Patriarch of Constantinople is not the first among equals, but that he has such an authority that others do not have".

Denisenko recalled that “all Orthodox Churches believe that all primates are equal. “No primate has more power, and the Patriarch of Constantinople wants to have power.”

This thesis is confirmed for Filaret by the fact that at the Pan-Orthodox Council, which was held in Crete in 2016, "it was decided that only the Patriarch of Constantinople has the right to convene Pan-Orthodox Councils," and that only he has the right to preside at them.

“But if we take history, we will see that councils were convened not only by Constantinople patriarchs, and not only Constantinople patriarchs presided at them. And here (in Crete – Ed.) the resolution of the Pan-Orthodox Council states that only the Patriarch of Constantinople has this power. But other Orthodox Churches do not want to recognize it,” Denisenko emphasized.

In his opinion, “if this Tomos is recognized, the primacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople should be recognized. Since you recognized the Tomos, then you also recognize what is written there, which means that you recognize the primacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople. And therefore, 11 Orthodox Churches do not recognize this Tomos because they do not want to transfer power to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.”

Filaret is sure that although the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko “says that they will gradually recognize, they won’t. They will not recognize for this reason: no one recognizes the power over himself of the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” resumed Denisenko.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that according to Filaret Denisenko, the Tomos is revenge on Moscow for non- participation in the Council of Crete.

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