Filaret realized that completely new rules of the game were being formed
The so-called Patriarch of the Kyiv Patriarchate of the UOC, unrecognized in the Orthodox world, Filaret, plans to leave the recently created OCU and regain power.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, former deputy head of the presidential administration Andrei Portnov writes about this in his blog.
According to him, this is evidenced by the increased activity of Filaret, his recent statements that the Kiev Patriarchate, in fact, continues to exist, as well as the story of the gathering of hierarchs of the dissolved church without the invitation of the Metropolitan of the OCU.
“It is no secret that Filaret was not satisfied with the compromise, which resulted in the emergence of the canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Not satisfied for two reasons. The first is because he always believed that only he and no one else could lead this church. And the second - because he was not satisfied with the church charter proposed by Constantinople, which was significantly different from the usual Moscow one.
An experienced church politician, Filaret did everything possible to defend his positions - but was forced to come to terms with a compromise also because the authorities insisted on it. The president did everything to “appease” the irritated clergyman - it was Filaret who was named the father of the new canonical church, he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine and the title of honorary patriarch, which does not exist in the OCU charter. But Filaret is Filaret because the first secretaries of the Central Committee and presidents come and go, but he remains.
Now that the new Ukrainian president and many of his voters are not at all interested in the issue of an independent church and Ukrainian identity, we can at least try to refuse the compromise, regain power, rewrite the charter, turn the church leadership into a “politburo” again - that is, do everything that which could not have been accomplished under the previous head of state.
And I do not exclude at all that everything will work out for Filaret, as it has worked out so far – even at the cost of a new church schism and marginalization, if not disappearance, of the Ukrainian canonical church,” writes Portnov.
The former high-ranking official also notes that Filaret’s current actions are a reflection of the entire Ukrainian policy. According to Portnov, given the unprofessionalism of the team of the new President of Ukraine, revenge of the previous political forces will be inevitable.
“The church is a special case. It’s just that Filaret has brilliant intuition; he was one of the first to understand that it was possible. And in a few weeks even people without any intuition will understand this. And then, before the eyes of our amazed compatriots, the names of Soviet heroes will return to the maps, revanchist court decisions will be made, international trials will be lost, and financial loans will be slowed down.
Not at all because the new president will make some incorrect statements or put pressure on the courts. No, the statements will be correct, there will be no pressure, no one in power will simply understand which “string” needs to be pulled in this or that case. And the “strings” will be pulled by a variety of people in a variety of directions – just as they are now in church affairs.
And after the parliamentary elections, this chaos will only intensify, because the president will either gain control over the same disoriented government, or will be drawn into a conflict with the new parliamentary corps and cabinet minister. In such chaos, completely new rules of the game will be formed, in which the winner is the one who attacks first, without thinking about the long-term consequences of his actions, trying to protect his interests at any cost. Filaret has already begun to formulate such rules,” adds Portnov.
Previously, Kiev journalist Sonya Koshkina, editor-in-chief of the popular publication “Left Bank” told in her blogthat Filaret, transferred by the OCU Council to the status of “honorary patriarch” of this church structure, does not want to put up with the loss of levers of power and is actively weaving intrigues against the head of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphanius.
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