And he did not ask for forgiveness

The Patriarch of Kyiv Filaret never turned to the Russian Orthodox Church with a request for pardon. This was stated by the press secretary of the UOC of the Communist Party of the Communist Party, Archbishop Evstratiy (Zorya), reports Interfax-Ukraine.

“Patriarch Filaret did not turn to Patriarch Kirill and the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church with a request to have mercy on him and return him to the church,” the archbishop said. “Provocative information is distributed that Patriarch Filaret never directed and will not send a request for mercy on the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.”

On Friday, Eustrati, in confirmation of his words, published a photograph of the letter of Filaret. In the message, Filaret asks Patriarch Kirill "for the sake of reaching the God of the commanded world between the unique Orthodox Christians" to restore the Eucharistic and prayer communication between the two churches, as well as to cancel all "decisions about the Podges (punishments. -Cred.) And excommunications." Also, the Ukrainian patriarch expresses the hope that after the restoration of communication of churches "all other decisions arising from this will be made."

On Thursday, Russian media reported that Filaret asked for "pardon him and returning him to the bosom of the canonical church."

However, in the definition of the Bishop Cathedral, published on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church, "pardon" was not mentioned. It was reported that Filaret turned to Patriarch Kirill, in which he asked to restore the Eucharistic and prayer communication between the Russian Orthodox Church and the UOC -KP.

"The letter contains a request for the restoration of the Eucharistic and prayer communication with Christians, consisting in the Ukrainian church split, and on the abolition of" all decisions, including transformations and excommunications ... for the sake of achieving the God of the commanded Orthodox Christians and reconciliation between the peoples. "The letter ends with the words: I apologize to everything that sinful in everything, by the same time, by the same with all my feelings, and I sincerely forgive everyone from my heart, ”the Russian Orthodox Church said.

The Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church "with satisfaction" perceived the appeal of Filaret. “After the woeful twenty -five years of strife, violence, mutual hostility, resentment and disorders that arose in Ukrainian Orthodoxy and Ukrainian society as a result of a split, finally, the opportunity appeared on the path of restoring unity,” the definition says.

To conduct further negotiations with the UOC -KP, the Bishop Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church established a commission, headed by the head of the Synodal Department of External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

On Thursday, the Bishop Cathedral provided more independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. In particular, the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church will prescribe that the MP UOC control center is located in Kyiv. At the same time, the decisions of the Local and Bishop's Cathedrals of the Russian Orthodox Church are mandatory for the UOC -MP. "The participants of the cathedral unanimously supported the request of Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Onufry to single out a separate chapter for the UOC in the charter of the Moscow Patriarchate," it was said. “These amendments, in fact, recorded what was already in practice.”

From 1966 to 1990, Filaret (Denisenko) was Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galitsky, the patriarchal exarch of all Ukraine. In 1990, after the death of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Pimen, Filaret was elected by the locomotive of the Patriarchal throne. He participated in the Patriarch’s elections, but lost.

In October 1990, the ROC Cathedral transformed the Ukrainian exarchate into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and provided it with independence and independence in management. Filaret became Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine. On November 1, 1991, the Bishop Cathedral of the UOC unanimously decided on complete independence, that is, autocephaly. However, the Russian Orthodox Church refused to recognize this decision. Finally, the UOC -KP was formed in 1992. About 2 thousand parishes passed to the UOC -KP, while the UOC -MP has about 10 thousand parishes. Other Orthodox churches did not recognize autocephaly of the UOC -KP. In 1992-1995, Filaret was the deputy patriarchs of Kyiv Mstislav (Skripnik) and Vladimir (Romaniuka). In October 1995, Filaret was elected Patriarch of Kyiv.

On June 11, 1992, the Russian Orthodox Church decided to "erupt Metropolitan Filaret (Denisenko) from the extension of the dignity, depriving him of all the degrees of the priesthood and all rights related to being in the clergy." On February 21, 1997, at the Bishop Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, Filaret was excommunicated from the church and devoted anathema.