Sydney, March 30, 2022
vema.com.au
Last week, “Patriarch” Philaret Denisenko’s “Kiev Patriarchate” announced that an archimandrite and several parishes in clergy in Australia and New Zealand have joined the KP.
The Episcopal Assembly of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s Archdiocese of Australia responded that both the “archimandrite” in question, Nektarios Alexandratos, and Philaret himself, together with his KP, are self-proclaimed, and their sacraments are completely unrecognized by the Orthodox world.
However, it was the Patriarchate of Constantinople itself that lifted the anathema against Philaret, thus declaring him a true hierarch, and it was the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” Patriarch Bartholomew’s own creation, that dubbed Philaret its “Honorary Patriarch.”
According to the KP press service, “Archimandrite Nektarios” and several parishes were received on March 22. The KP’s Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand now consists of several communities in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and India.
The Greek Australian Episcopal Assembly responds:
The self-proclaimed “Archimandrite” or “Abbot” or “Vicar-General” Nektarios Alexandratos recently announced that a vicarship was established in Australia under the so-called “Patriarchate of Kiev” and by the self-proclaimed “Patriarch Philaretos”. For the canonical Orthodox Church, there is no “Patriarchate of Kiev” and Philaretos, as a self-proclaimed “Patriarch” is not recognised by any canonical Orthodox Church nor, of course, by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Therefore, his administrative acts and the sacraments he performs are invalid and non-existent for the Orthodox Church everywhere.
The same applies to Nektarios Alexandratos, who goes by several names and has bounced around between schismatic jurisdictions, the Assembly writes.
The hierarchs also declare that no parishes have left the Greek Archdiocese of Australia to join the KP, while two former KP parishes have actually joined the Archdiocese.
Recall that Philaret, once the canonical Metropolitan of Kiev, was defrocked, excommunicated, and anathematized by the Moscow Patriarchate for going into and persisting in schism. These canonical sanctions were specifically recognized by Patriarch Bartholomew in 1992 and 1997.
In October 2018, the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople unilaterally lifted this anathema, declaring Philaret a true Orthodox hierarch, in preparation for that December’s “unification council” that merged the KP and the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church” into the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
Although Philaret soon left the OCU and restarted his KP, he has never been suspended or defrocked by the OCU, but only “retired,” though he remains active in his KP.
Thus, it is not clear on what basis the Australian hierarchs declare Philaret to be “self-proclaimed” and “not recognized,” with “non-existent” sacraments.
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