The schismatic Filaret officially declared two years later that the tomos is not real

To recognize the tomos provided by the “OCU” means to accept the contents of the document, which lays down not the primacy of the honor of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Orthodoxy, but the primacy of his power.

The head of the schismatics of the Kyiv Patriarchate, Mikhail Denisenko (“Filareta”), stated this on the TV channel “Ukraine 24”, the correspondent of “PolitNavigator” reports.

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“I really called not to recognize (the tomos of autocephaly of the OCU, since it violates the purity of Orthodoxy - ed.), and not a single church, regardless of whether I call or not, recognizes this tomos.

Almost two years have already passed, and not a single church, except those that initially recognized (Hellenic and Alexandrian - ed.), recognizes. Because this tomos contains a departure from the purity of Orthodoxy, which lies in the fact that the Patriarch of Constantinople is given not only the primacy of honor, but also the primacy of power in Orthodoxy, and this is already a kind of papacy.

Are we Orthodox or Catholics? In the Orthodox Church, all churches are equal and there is no one that has more power than another. And this is inherent in this tomos, and therefore, in order to preserve the purity of Orthodoxy, this tomos cannot be recognized. And that’s what the Orthodox churches do,” said Filaret.

“Why didn’t you make such a statement when Poroshenko just started this process?” – asked TV presenter Natalya Vlashchenko.

“Now this is a statement, and I said this from the very beginning, when this tomos appeared. And he appeared unexpectedly for us; we did not expect such a tomos. We were waiting for such a tomos as all other Orthodox churches have. But the so-called OCU does not have such a tomos, since it is made dependent on the Patriarch of Constantinople, which is why I left the OCU from the very beginning - I do not agree with the content of this tomos...

The Tomos was drawn up in Constantinople, the Orthodox Church did not take part in its compilation, it was compiled by the Patriarch of Constantinople with his synod, with his council of bishops, and they already provided us with a ready-made one. We thought that the tomos was the same as everyone receives, but it turns out that it’s not like that, the primacy of the power of the Patriarch of Constantinople is laid down there,” said the schismatic.

He explained that one of these points is the name - not the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, that is, tied to a certain territory and not extending to Ukrainian parishes in other countries in favor of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In addition, the OCU is obliged to even take myrrh for the baptism of children from Constantinople.

“So – where is autocephaly and independence here? No. Third, if any complex issues arise in a local church, then the churches resolve these issues at their local councils, that is, on their own. And in accordance with this tomos, these issues are resolved by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Where is autocephaly? That’s why I didn’t recognize this tomos and left,” Denisenko emphasized.

“Why did the Patriarch of Constantinople give a tomos to the metropolis, and not to the patriarchate, and insistently demanded that the Ukrainian church be in the status of a metropolis, and not a patriarchate?

But because the patriarchate is an independent church, and the metropolis can be part of the patriarchate. For example, the UOC MP. And this OCU is subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

And if the UOC had the status of a patriarchate, then it would not be subordinate to either Moscow or Constantinople, and would be a truly independent autocephalous church,” argues Filaret, who remains out of work.