Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's adviser, Director of National Institute for Strategic Studies Rostyslav Pavlenko has said the Ecumenical Patriarch will not revoke a tomos of autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) unless the OCU, itself, insists on amending the document.
"Both in the tomos and in the charter of the church there is a provision stating that everything that happens in the independent Ukrainian church should take place in accordance with the tomos and the statute. If the conditions of the tomos are not violated, if the church does not revise it and does not make changes regarding the tomos's provisions, there can be no revocation," he told Radio Liberty's Ukrainian Service.
"Neither President Poroshenko not the state interferes in internal church relations," Pavlenko said, commenting on the statement of Honorable Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) Filaret, who claimed that "Poroshenko has retreated from the agreements reached and actually agreed to liquidate the Kyiv Patriarchate."
"The Kyiv Patriarchate was liquidated as a religious association on December 15, i.e. an association of various religious organizations that make up the Kyiv Patriarchate. The decision on this was made by the Local Council of the Kyiv Patriarchate, and the Ministry of Culture completed all the necessary procedures in January of this year, establishing either actually or legally the Kyiv Patriarchate does not exist as a church," Pavlenko said.
As reported earlier, Filaret insists the Kyiv Patriarchate has retained registration with the state bodies.
At the same time, the Ministry of Culture assured the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate was liquidated on December 15, 2018 during the Unification Council.
