During his annual pastoral visit and All-Ukraine pilgrimage, Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine arrived in the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Manyava Carpathian Monastery.
Upon arrival in Ivano-Frankivsk, Patriarch Filaret visited the Church of St. Michael the Archangel and Holy Trinity Cathedral, where he met with parishioners.
Then the patriarch went to Manyava where he led the Divine Liturgy at the Exaltation of the Cross Manyava Monastery. Here the faithful prayed above all for peace in Ukraine.
“When a soldier defends his family, state, nation, he shows his love thereby,” said Patriarch Filaret. “Jesus said that no one has greater love than he who would give his life for his friends.”
After a solemn liturgy in Manyava the patriarch spoke with reporters.
“Every year I visitsome 14 dioceses and arrive in Ivano-Frankivsk diocese on the feast of St. John the Baptist and the Venerable Job and Theodosius of Manyava. And here I communicate with the hierarchs, clergy, and of course, with believers –we pray. This year therewerelots ofbelievers who came to pray to Manyava skete– the center of pilgrimage that attracts more and more believers not only from Galicia but from eastern Ukraine from year to year,” the hierarch said.
“Today we, all Ukrainians, are concerned about the events that occur in the east. Therefore, the church that has always stayed with the people will support the Ukrainian peoplein these difficult circumstances, and in particular the Ukrainian army. When weasked about fundraising to help the armyin the AUCCRO, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) Metropolitan Onufriy said they would not do that in order not to emphasize that our army is so weak.
I gave him an example, during World War II, the Russian Church collected funds for a tank column and a Soviet army squadron. It is evident that they are simply unwilling to support our army, but only separatists in the east. I do not want to say this about the whole Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, because there are patriots. But our Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate humanitarian aid collected more than 50 thousand tons of humanitarian aid during the war. In addition, over 100 ambulances and minibuses were passed to the army. Also, our priests are staying with the soldiers on the front line, supporting our soldiers along with the priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.”
Patriarch Filaret stressed that the views on events in eastern Ukraine in the UOC- KP, the UGCC, the UAOC on the one hand and the UOC (MP) on the other, are radically different. “Our position is that separatists in eastern Ukraine oppose our authorities and there is aggression from Russia,” the Patriarch said. “As you can see, Russian weapons are present there. In addition, there are representatives of the Russian special services. UOC (MP) argues that this is a civil war. If this were so, this problem would have already been solved.
The war will end anyway– Russia will not winUkraine! For this reason, our army is tenable and Ukrainian spirit is strongand is impossible to break. The developments in Mariupol are a good example to this, some analysts call it a second Stalingrad during the Second World War, which was a turning point as our victory.”
The patriarch also expressed his position regarding the process of unification with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which, as he believes, will proceed. Relevantcommissions were set upand confirmed the intentions of association at their meetings,they agreed on joint convocation of the Council on September 14. However, under the Statute, the convocation has yet to be reaffirmed by the Churches. The Kyiv Patriarchate has already given its consent. The UAOC delaysits confirmation. Patriarch Filaret said that the Bishops' Council of the UAOC of July 9 should decide on the Unification Council.
The UOC-KP has also madeits demands regarding the number of its delegates to the unification council. Their number has to be bigger, because it has beenofficially recorded that the number of believers in their church more is bigger. The UAOC alsoinsistson preserving the name of their church.
The Patriarch also noted that many faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate passed to the Kyiv Patriarchate.
“I would like to emphasize that the negative rolein this process has been played by Moscow,”PatriarchFilaret said. “It is not interested that Ukrainian Orthodoxy would unite into a single Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Russia needs it separated, because it is easier to fight with our state and the Church then. And when we get united we will become invincible. The unification with the Autocephalous Church is only a beginning,next we have to unite with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). In general, but for theKyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, as well as the Autocephalous and the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches, Putin would have won Ukraine, I suppose. Because they act as a united front against the Russian aggression.