Patriarch Filaret Questions Holiness of President Yanukovych's Mentor

In an interview to RISU, Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate spoke negatively about the former mentor of President Viktor Yanukovych and a very respected person in the Russian Church, Archimandrite Zosima.  The patriarch called him an adventurist and chauvinist and questioned his holiness and supernatural gift of prophecy.

“Adventurist. And a Russian chauvinist. He stired up Donbass against the Ukrainian Church!”

In Donetsk Region, people viewed Archimandrite Zosima as a prophet. However, according to Patriarch Filaret, the monk won this fame in an unfare way.

“He had made-servants, and when the parishioners and sick came to ask for advice, he used to send his servants to talk and ask who they were, where they came from and their names and what their problems were and what they wanted from the elder,” said Patriarch Filaret.