Filaret is ready to meet with Patriarch Kirill
The head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the unrecognized Kiev Patriarchate stressed that he did not intend to abandon independent status of their Church.
MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. The head of the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate Filaret said he was ready to meet with Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill, but does not intend to abandon independent status of their Church. He said this on air of the Ukrainian TV channel “1+1”.
“There are no proposals on the meeting no. And it was not. I would, of course, agreed,” he said, answering a reporter’s question about a possible meeting with Patriarch Kirill.
But from his position of autocephaly (independence administrative – approx. TASS) the Ukrainian Church would not back down.The Patriarch Filaretova non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate
As previously stated the head of the Synodal Department of the ROC for Church-state relations with society and mass-media Vladimir Legoyda, the Moscow Patriarchate is ready to dialogue with the unrecognized Kiev Patriarchate. To return it from the split in the Russian Orthodox Church established a special Commission headed by the Chairman of the Department for external Church relations of the ROC Metropolitan Hilarion, with the participation of Russian and Ukrainian clergy.
A former Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev, who resigned in the division and in 1992 founded the so-called Kyivan Patriarchate is still not recognized by the world Orthodoxy, sent a letter dated November 16, Patriarch Kirill and the bishops ‘ Council with a proposal for overcoming the schism. However, he later stated that the Ukrainian Church should be independent and that he will continue to fight for its autocephaly.