Mikhail Denisenko, the head of Ukrainian schismatics from the so-called “Kyiv Patriarchate,” called on the Georgian Orthodox Church to recognize Ukrainian autocephaly.
The false patriarch stated this during a meeting of the Atlantic Council in the United States, addressing Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II, Kommersant reports.
“Georgia and Ukraine have both suffered from Russian aggression. It is Georgia that must support us. We are Orthodox, and we are obliged to pray together,” said the head of the “Kyiv Patriarchate,” unrecognized in the Orthodox world.
“The highest hierarchs of the GOC, although they do not answer directly, make it clear in every possible way: Georgia does not intend to rush to recognize the autocephaly of Ukraine. The main reason is fears that the “Ukrainian precedent” will help Abkhazia achieve similar recognition from Constantinople,” the publication notes.
Back in 2012, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople met with the head of the non-canonical Holy Metropolis of Abkhazia (HMA), which is seeking independence from both the Russian and Georgian churches, and promised to consider the issue of Abkhaz autocephaly.
Having learned about Constantinople’s plans to begin the process of granting autocephaly to Ukraine, the head of the Abkhaz schismatics, Dorofey Dbar, said that the solution to the Ukrainian church problem “will serve as a catalyst for accelerating the solution to the Abkhaz one.”
“After Ukraine and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Abkhazia’s turn will come,” Dbar said.
“The Russian Orthodox Church has been conducting unsuccessful negotiations with the HMA for several years about the transfer to the management of Moscow of one of the shrines of the Russian Orthodox Church - the New Athos Monastery. The GOC supported the position of the Moscow Patriarchate on this issue, but the HMA declared the monastery its main department until the recognition of the autocephaly of Abkhazia by Constantinople,” the newspaper notes.
As PolitNavigator reported, Filaret-Denisenko, who previously collaborated with the KGB, was accepted at the US State Department.