PATRIARCH FILARET: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS HAVE TRANSFERRED FROM RUSSIA TO KIEV PATRIARCHATE DURING WAR
Several hundreds of thousands of faithful in the last two years have transferred from churches of the Moscow patriarchate into the Kiev patriarchate.
The head of the UPTs of the Kiev patriarchate, Filaret, reported this in an interview with Apostrofu, depo.us reports.
"The war, which is continuing in the east of Ukraine, prompts believers of the Moscow patriarchate to transfer in the Kiev patriarchate, and the Kiev patriarchate is growing. Believers leave the Moscow patriarchate because they are disappointed that this church supports Russia and not Ukraine. For example, in Kiev, tens of thousands of believers have transferred from the Moscow patriarchate into the Vladimir cathedral, the Michael cathedral, and others of our churches. This is happening throughout Ukraine. People in masses are transferring not as parishes but they transfer individually," Patriarch Filaret said.
He reckoned that there are as many as 20 million faithful in his patriarchate alone, while there are 45 million residents in Ukraine and many confessions. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 April 2016)
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