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Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) Epifaniy has said Honorable Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Filaret on December 15, 2018 refused to sign the OCU's charter, which was adopted during the Unification Council.

"The Synod witnessed that in its future life and activities, the Ukrainian Local Orthodox Church will be guided by sacred legends, scripture and the charter adopted at Kyiv's St. Sophia Cathedral on December 15, 2018. Almost all of us were unanimous in previous decisions, but the last decision was not signed only by the patriarch," Epifaniy said on Friday after the OCU Synod, Ukrainian TSN news service has reported.

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According to him, during today's Synod, the parties discussed the situation that had developed in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the statements that had been made over the past two weeks. But Filaret continued to insist that the Kyiv Patriarchate still exists and was not removed from registration.

"Although we all tried to convince and prove that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate had no longer legally and actually existed, and the Kyiv Patriarchate formed the basis of the OCU," the metropolitan said.

"Therefore, to a certain extent, we discussed, talked, convinced, but everyone saw that His Holiness Patriarch Filaret, unfortunately, remained with his opinion," Epifaniy added.

As UNIAN reported, the Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was held at Kyiv's St. Sophia Cathedral on May 24, 2019. The Synod was chaired by Primate of the OCU Metropolitan Epifaniy. Filaret was also present there.

Earlier, Filaret refused to recognize the UOC-KP as "liquidated" as a result of the creation of the OCU.

At the same time, the Ministry of Culture assures that the UOC-KP was dissolved on December 15, 2018, during the Unification Council.