Just months ago, Ukrainians celebrated the creation of the unified Orthodox Church of Ukraine independent from the Moscow Patriarchate.
Today, however, a power struggle within that new church is already prompting talks of a split.
Patriarch Emeritus Filaret, a chief campaigner for the independent Ukrainian church, now says he should govern the new church while its elected head, Metropolitan Epiphanius, should represent it internationally. That was the agreement between him, Epiphanius, and President Petro Poroshenko last December, Filaret claims.
The patriarch emeritus has also accused Epiphanius and Poroshenko of breaking their words and making him a ceremonial figure without power.
“The agreement was verbal because I trusted Epiphanius and the president. But they betrayed me. I, as the patriarch, have to govern the Ukrainian church on the territory of Ukraine. But he (Epiphanius) governs and keeps me away,” Filaret told journalists on May 15, adding that he didn’t believe in the independence of Epiphanius. “He is being ruled.”
Filaret also claimed that Epiphanius has avoided speaking with him. During five months in office, Epiphanius has never held a church service with him, he said.
“In the beginning, I would give him recommendations on what had to be done. He would do the opposite. Now he doesn’t talk to me,” Filaret said. “In public, he says how much he respects the patriarch. It’s just words.”
Poroshenko’s office couldn’t be reached to comment on the supposed agreement with Filaret. Metropolitan Epiphanius denied Filaret’s allegations.
“Personally, I didn’t make any promises before the Unification Council,” he told BBC Ukraine. “The last agreement on Dec. 14, 2018 (the eve of the Unification Council) was put in writing in my absence. It was the final position. Perhaps, everyone had their thoughts but, at the end of the day, all agreements end with signing documents. That’s why saying that someone promised something to someone is irrelevant now.”
Epiphanius said that Filaret wanted to return to an old way of governing the church by one person while the Unification Council chose a different management model: open and democratic where the church is governed by the Holy Synod and bishops’ council in accordance with the statute and provisions of the tomos, a decree granting official recognition of the new Orthodox Church’s independence from Russia.
“I, as the primate, have no right to change the statute single-handedly,” he told BBC Ukraine. “If we return to the old order, it will violate the statute and the tomos. I have no right to violate the canonical order to satisfy a wish of one or another bishop of our church.”
Metropolitan Epiphanius talks to President Petro Poroshenko on the stage at Sofiivska Square after he was elected and announced as the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Dec. 15, 2018 (Volodymyr Petrov)
High-level negotiations
An advisor to President Poroshenko has responded to Filaret, albeit only to a superficial implication of his statements.
Rostislav Pavlenko, who advised the president on church independence and previously served as deputy chief of the Presidential Administration, pushed back against the idea that Poroshenko played a central role in the creation of the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine — something that would presumably contradict that Ukrainian state’s official secularism.
“The president and the state do not interfere in internal church affairs,” he told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
However, the events leading up to church independence objectively contradict that statement.
Negotiations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople gained momentum in April 2018 under Poroshenko’s auspices. After Ukraine received the tomos the president made this accomplishment a key component of his unsuccessful re-election campaign.
Poroshenko toured the country with the tomos. Billboards celebrating the historic event depicted Poroshenko standing next to newly appointed Metropolitan Epiphanius.
No split
Filaret’s comments have sparked fears that the newly unified church may not be long for this world. But Epiphanius says there is no divide.
“His (Filaret’s) thoughts don’t demonstrate the position of the entire church,” he told BBC Ukraine adding that 65 bishops of the church believe in unity and want to continue working together for the recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine by other churches worldwide, not only the ecumenical patriarchate.
In a May 14 statement, Filaret said that he agreed with Poroshenko and Epiphanius to forgo the formal status as head of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine while remaining its de facto leader. That was one of several trade-offs for obtaining the tomos, the patriarch emeritus said.
According to Filaret, Constantinople asked him not to nominate himself as church primate because the new church would be granted the lower status of a metropolis under the Constantinople Patriarchate, and would not be a separate patriarchate.
That arrangement satisfied Ukraine, which had long sought a divorce from the Moscow Patriarchate, but that process picked up speed after Russia annexed Crimea and invaded the Donbas in 2014.
Additionally, church independence would give Ukraine the chance to create a unified Orthodox church instead of being divided between the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and the Moscow Patriarchate. Of the three, only the Moscow Patriarchate was recognized canonically.
Many saw 90-year-old Filaret as the likely head of the new, unified Orthodox Church. Filaret had led the Kyiv Patriarchate since it broke away from Moscow in 1992 and was declared schismatic. Filaret was also excommunicated until Constantinople restored him to church communion in 2018.
However, instead of himself, Filaret nominated 40-year-old Bishop Epiphanius, who was subsequently elected as the primate of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine at the Unification Council on Dec. 15, 2018.
On Jan. 6, the new church received the tomos.
Now, Filaret has announced that he will fight for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine’s independence from Constantinople and for its recognition as a patriarchate.
Kyiv Patriarchate
Despite ceding power, Patriarch Filaret has refused to forgo his Kyiv Patriarchate, which formally merged with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church into the new, unified Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The two previously unrecognized churches announced their voluntary dissolution before the Unification Council in December.
Parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate were also allowed to join the new church. As of March, some 500 parishes have reportedly transferred.
However, Filaret claims that his renunciation of the Kyiv Patriarchate was “situational,” as it was required by Constantinople for granting the tomos
He says the Kyiv Patriarchate still exists and is officially registered with Ukrainian state agencies. He believes that only those who established the patriarchate — i.e. him and the Kyiv Patriarchate Council — may terminate it.
The Ministry of Culture, however, disputes that claim. According to it, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate legally ceased to exist when the statute of the new church was registered on Jan. 30 following the dissolution decision from Dec. 15, 2018.
