Kiev, January 22, 2021
Photo: www.cerkva.info
On the occasion of Joe Biden’s inauguration to the presidency, “Patriarch” Philaret Denisenko of the schismatic “Kiev Patriarchate” (KP) wrote to the new president to congratulate him, recall their many meetings together, and entreat his protection.
Biden has shown himself a friend of Constantinople’s schismatic movement in Ukraine, which was focused on the person of Philaret Denisenko for 30 years. While Philaret has departed from the main schismatic body, he still has hopes that his personal connection with President Biden will prove beneficial for him and his KP.
“Many believers in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate are United States citizens,” Philaret writes. “With great warmth I recollect our repeated meetings in Washington when you were the Vice President of the United States.”
In September 2018, Biden met with Philaret and expressed his support for the schismatic movement’s plans to receive autocephaly from Constantinople, and gratitude to Philaret for his work “in spreading spirituality in Ukrainian society, helping the Ukrainian army, fighting against corruption, and so on.”
According to Philaret’s letter to the president, Ukrainians are grateful to the U.S. for “defending our national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and all know that the U.S. has “great respect for human rights.”
Against this background, the false patriarch expresses hope that the U.S. and Ukraine will continue to cooperate and that “the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate for the freedom of conscience will be protected.”
He also indicates to President Biden that this protection requires his KP to be legally registered by the Ukrainian state again.
Philaret and the bishops of his KP initially agreed to unite with the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church” to form the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” but once it became clear that Constantinople had not granted full and true autocephaly, Philaret left the OCU and reformed his KP, which now numbers more than 10 bishops, most serving dioceses outside Ukraine.
In July 2019, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture declared the KP to be officially liquidated, though Philaret then turned to the courts to protect its property from being transferred to the OCU. The matter remains unresolved.
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