Moscow believes that Ukraine is its canonical territory, and therefore no Patriarchate – neither Orthodox nor Greek Catholic – should be present here. Patriarch Emeritus Filaret said it on air of ZIK TV channel.
Moscow believes that Ukraine is its canonical territory, and therefore no Patriarchate – neither Orthodox nor Greek Catholic – should be present here. Patriarch Emeritus Filaret said it on air of ZIK TV channel.
Commenting on the possibility of a new Union between the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Patriarch Filaret stressed that the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church are different Churches.
"We are the Orthodox Church, they are a Catholic Church, and therefore there can be no unification. They might either join the Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church might join the Catholic Church, and it will be a new Union. There will be no such new Union. The claim of His Beatitude Svyatoslav to Warm St Sofia Church is illegitimate, because St. Sophia's Cathedral has always been an Orthodox Cathedral. Therefore, we do not need to aggravate relations because of the service in the Warm St Sofia. We all need – both the Orthodox Church, and the Greek Catholic Church – to protect Ukraine," – said the Patriarch Emeritus.
He also explained why Rome did not grant the Greek Catholic Church the status of Patriarchate.
"This is a requirement of Moscow. Moscow requires from Rome not to grant the status of the Patriarchate to the Greek Catholic Church. Moscow believes that Ukraine is its canonical territory, and therefore neither the Orthodox nor the Greek Catholic Patriarchate can be present in Ukraine. Why does Rome listen to Moscow? It listens because the Russian Church is big, rich and powerful, and so they want to maintain good relations with the rich and strong... Therefore, we are facing the fact that Moscow does not allow Rome to grant the status of the Patriarchate to the Greek Catholic Church," Filaret said.