DEPUTY ADVISES FILARET "TO DISCARD ALL HIS TITLES AND SIMPLY AWAIT PATIENTLY THE DECISION" OF ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
Religiia v Ukraine, 29 October 2018
A Ukrainian people's deputy from Transcarpathia, Viktor Baloga, an influential Ukrainian politician and a parishioner and patron of the UPTsMP, who supports the desire of the president of the country to receive canonical autocephaly for the Ukrainian church, thinks that the ambitions and whims of some of the participants in the process of granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian church are returning to the situation in 2008, when there also was a possibility of getting autocephaly from Constantinople, but then the visit by Patriarch Bartholomew to Kiev ended in failure, Religiia v Ukraine reports.
Commenting on the frequent statements by the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, Filaret, and his associates about the desirability of electing Filaret patriarch of the unified local church, Viktor Baloga warns against haste.
"Without question, Filaret deserves to be elected primate of the autocephalous church," Baloga writes on Facebook. "But, considering many conversations and demands on Bartholomew on the part of church figures, it seems that we all are making an irreparable mistake. Everybody needs patience, and also with the ecumenical patriarch. It seems that there is no need for any briefings and statements. There is a need for him to discard all of his titles and simply wait patiently. I stress—simply await the decision of the ecumenical patriarch. Then 2008 will not be repeated and then everything will be fine. Both the government and spiritual leadership of all confessions must understand this," the politician emphasized.
We recall that the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAPTs) wants to agree on the name, charter, and model of the local church even before the unification council. (tr. by PDS, poseted 29 October 2018)
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