THE PRIDE OF THE FALSE PATRIARCH. SCHISMATICS UNABLE TO ASSEMBLE THEIR ASSEMBLY
by Pavel Dulman
Rossiiskaia Gazeta, 29 October 2018
The Ukrainian uncanonical religious associations awaiting recognition and the grant of self-administration—autocephaly—status from the Istanbul district of the Phanar and the local Patriarch Bartholomew are disrupting the part of the work assigned to them in the division of world Orthodoxy. So far they have not managed to assemble the "great unification council of patriarchs of the nation" and to agree on unity in the ULOUC: the united local Orthodox Ukrainian church.
The decision of the Constantinople Synod proposes only the creation of an exarchate in Ukraine and the removal of the anathema and sanctions imposed by the Russian Orthodox Church on the schismatics. Whereas the tomos—an order recognizing autocephaly—has not been received but only the assurance of support for this process. In order to request it from Bartholomew, the schismatics are supposed to assemble together, establish the ULOUC, and select for themselves a "metropolitan of Kiev," since the creation of a patriarchate in the "mother of Russian cities" is not foreseen in the scheme proposed by the Phanar.
It is all the fault of the rumored pride of the false patriarch Mikhail Denisenko (Filaret, of the UPTsKP) who is not ready to surrender before his colleagues in schism his status of "first among equals." Although three weeks ago he declared that the "unification synod" will be held from day to day, and that by the 9th to 11th of November—the dates of the next district bishops' council in Istanbul—he and his colleagues will receive the tomos. After this, Filaret promised a quick and total transfer of the Kiev caves lavra and the Pochaev lavra to his administration. In anticipation of this event he expanded his title, inscribing there besides "patriarch" also "metropolitan," in order not to provoke irritation in Bartholomew and friendly heresiarchs with whom he is supposed to agree about the ULOUC. But this did not help, and two weeks before the Phanar synod the schismatics find themselves farther away from the tomos than before. The second part of the schismatic duo—the false metropolitan Nikolai Maletich (Makary, of the UAPTs)—originally was offended by the transfer of what he considers "his" St. Andrew's church to the use of the exarchs sent by Bartholomew, and then he proceeded to blame the abominable character of Filaret and his reluctance to agree and he accused him of personal insults. In the end Maletich stated that it is all up to Bartholomew's will; he said that he not only should give the tomos but also determine the head of the ULOUC.
Against this background the perplexity of a few bishops of the canonical church (UPTsMP) has grown—from ten to twelve—who earlier expressed willingness to take part in the creation of the ULOUC. One of these open supporters of schism—Metropolitan of Cherkassy Sofrony—declared yesterday that the election of Denisenko as head of the new church "will be a disgrace for us." In the end, Filaret himself, who had become a stumbling block and unacceptable figure for all, declared in unison with Maletich that the date of the unification assembly and the head of the ULOUC should be determined by Bartholomew himself.
In other words, the schismatics, as in the famous epigram about two Ukrainians and three hetmans, acknowledged their incapacity to agree independently and they again are calling on the Phanar for help. Thereby they are placing in a difficult, and even partly stupid position their own Istanbul patron, Bartholomew, and along with him also their American sponsors. On one hand, calling a council on another's canonical territory is a gesture that facilitates yet more the schism of Orthodoxy than does the removal of the anathema that he had not imposed and confirms the accusation of "papism." On the other hand, Bartholomew, who received an exarchate in Ukraine, the church of St. Andrew, and material reward from Poroshenko, is quite satisfied with the current situation. After all he does not, in principle, need the creation of a ULOUC. Strangely enough, the Kiev schismatics also may not be in a hurry. The anathemas have been removed from them and now Filaret and Makary can dicker among themselves for a long time, and with the "tamed" Bartholomew, about who is chief in Kiev. The tomos is needed only by Poroshenko, who placed his stake on this in the election campaign, but the Phanar does not issue such writs on the demand of secular authorities. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 October 2018)
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