UOC-KP Claims Russian Metropolitan Kiril Deceives Ukrainian Officials
The UOC-KP statement notes that “the official purpose of his visit to Kyiv was to participate in the conference on Orthodoxy and Social Life: Revival of the Church’s Social Service Tradition.” But the press service considers that, in fact, “the visit occurred with an entirely different goal: Metropolitan Kiril wanted to convince the leadership of Ukraine that the unification of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is a lengthy process which should not be hurried. The desire of the Moscow Patriarchate is to leave Ukrainian Orthodoxy in the state of bitter division in which it has continued for nearly ten years because of uncanonical and schismatic acts.” Metropolitan Kiril is accused of trying to deceive the leadership of Ukraine, of concealing the real situation and concealing truthful announcements about the development of the discussions in Zurich, thus dragging out the unification process. According to the press service he “grossly violated previously achieved agreements and the equal rights of the parties participating in the discussion process on the issue of the union of Ukrainian Orthodoxy.” They offer as evidence the fact that Metropolitan Kiril chose to inform President Kuchma about the progress of the discussion process and, in particular, about the last meeting in Switzerland, without the participation of Metropolitan Meliton, the representative of the delegation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople at that meeting.
As the representatives of the Ukrainian government were not able to take part in the last meeting in Zurich at the insistence of Metropolitan Kiril himself, the UOC-KP press service considers it a sly attempt of the Moscow Patriarchate hierarch to justify his visit “from a desire to inform the leadership of Ukraine about the most recent discussions in Zurich.” The press service considers the metropolitan’s meeting with the national deputies of Ukraine’s parliament as an attempt at interfering in internal affairs of the Ukrainian government. The press service requests that Metropolitan Meliton, the General Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, be invited to Ukraine in the near future. This will give the representatives of the Ukrainian government an opportunity to receive trustworthy and full information about the actual canonical status of Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the true developments in the international discussion process. Materials for this story were taken from the official site of the UOC-KP
www.kyivpatriarch.org
