Representatives of the Kyivan Patriarchate comment on the letter of the Moscow Patriarchate's Synodal Department on Relations Between the Church and Society to Prime Minister Tymoshenko regarding St. Catherine’s Church in Chernihiv.
“The aspirations of certain circles to water down the independence of the UOC-MP in its government and to actually turn it into a subordinated exarchate were already known to us before. The letter has become another confirmation of our view,” reports the press center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate as it sets out its official position.
UOC-KP representatives view the statement of Fr. Vsevolod as one that is in line with the centralization policy of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.
“This policy is also represented by the inclusion in the Synod of ROC [Russian Orthodox Church] of another hierarch from Ukraine, which reduces the role of Metropolitan Volodymyr in the synod to the level of other eparchial hierarch members of the synod. In addition, various commissions of the ROC began to include representatives of the UOC [MP], which is the same as including deputies of the Supreme Council [of Ukraine] in the commissions of the State Duma of Russia,” reads the statement of the UOC-KP.
The response includes many other facts confirming the position set out above.
“Having a large number of such structures in Ukraine as the hierarchical council, the Holy Synod of the UOC-MP, its head, its synodal departments, protopriest Vsevolod Chaplin does not consider it necessary to approach these structures and hierarchs for them to express their position to the Ukrainian authorities regarding St. Catherine’s Church in Chernihiv. For this question is an internal problem of the UOC [MP]. Instead, protopriest Chaplin considers it possible to leave out Metropolitan Volodymyr and approach the head of the Ukrainian government. This very fact is a flagrant violation of the subordination,” reads the statement of UOC-KP.
At the same time, the representatives of the UOC-KP state that Chaplin would not allow himself to take such steps without consent of Patriarch Kirill.
As for the conflict over the church in Chernihiv, the statement of the Kyivan Patriarchate says that it is not within the authority of the Ukrainian authorities to define the canonicity of denominations and the fact that the church was passed to the Kyivan Patriarchate legitimately is proved by the decisions of the courts, says the statement. In addition, the statement reads that the tents around the church were erected with the participation of pro-Russian political parties and movements and the pickets can hardly be called peaceful. As for the fire in the field chapel, the statement calls the accusations against representatives of UOC-KP false as the investigation proved that the fire was caused from a violation of fire safety rules.