Seems like UOC-KP has "exarchates" around the world...

[Sophia89]

Yesterday I came across an article from which I've learned of existence of the "Orthodox Diocese of Paris and All France" in the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kievan Patriarchate (UOC-KP). And it seems like UOC-KP appeared to have much more unknown things for me in behind.

For example, today the presence of Ukrainian schismatics in Greece became known to me. It turns out, on November 4 "the Bishop of Kherson, Exarch of the Kievan Patriarchate in Greece" Chrysostomos (Georgios Bakomitros) died. Prior to his adoption to the UOC-KP in 2005, he had served in the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America for a while and had been being the Greek Orthodox Church (GOC) clergyman for about 30 years.

Probably, nobody knows how did Filaret (Denisenko) manage to hook Chrysostomos (then retired GOC presbyter). Moreover, by now, this issue matters for Bakomitros's personal relationship with God in the first place. However, what is important for rest of us now is the fact that the self-proclaimed Kievan patriarch Filaret still hasn't abandoned his heretical concept of the "two self-sufficient families of Local Orthodox Churches".

As I was told, formation of the UOC-KP's "Exarchate" took place in 1996 and was accompanied by a diplomatic scandal. At that time, deposed GOC clergyman Timothy Kutalyanos was ordained as a bishop by Ukrainian schismatics and appointed to be "Patriarchal Exarch". Later this step was said to be done in order to "represent the interests of the Kievan Patriarchate in Greece and build ties with local churches of Hellenic tradition." However, when the newly-ordained bishop was invited to the Independence Day reception in the Ukrainian embassy along with canonical clergy, the latter have had to leave the event and then send an official letter expressing their displeasure about it. As a result, networking went wrong and Ukrainian diplomats had to apologize.

Despite this, Filaret didn't give up plans to gain a foothold on the GOC canonical territory. Moreover, when deceased "bishop" Timothy was replaced with "Archimandrite" Chrysostomos (Bakomitros), Denisenko sent an official letter to the Primate of the GOC in which asked for the "fullest cooperation" to the new "Exarch". Of course, the Archdiocese of Athens took this letter from dissenters as an expression of their impudence and mockery. And now I wonder whether the UOC-KP will dare to send another fake "bishop" to the Greek land.

Is it common practice for Ukrainian schismatics to invade other canonical jurisdictions? I shouldn't be surprised if there are many more UOC-KP exarchates in other countries...

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

I already knew they set up dioceses in areas with overlapping jurisdictions outside Ukraine, but I had no idea they were arrogant enough to encroach on uniform jurisdictions.

 

[ArmyMatt]

who knows. Filaret has had some bitterness ever since he was passed over for Moscow's patriarchate. he has been struggling to convince people of his own legitimacy ever since.

 

[Daniel Bodnar]

Some of us Ukrainians in America still remember how UOC-KP seizured several parishes of UOC in the USA (under Ecumenical Patriarchate since 1936)... For example, in 1998 four parishes (whose priests had been suspended) left Constantinople to become part of the UOC-KP.

And here is how UOC-KP reacted to the Open Letter of the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops Beyond the Borders of Ukraine, from 14 June 1998 :

From Resolutions of the Hierarchical Sobor
of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Kyivan Patriarchate
from 14 May 1999

The Blessed Hierarchical Sobor, that by the will of God met in the city of Kyiv,
thoroughly examining the urgent questions of Church life, Decided:

[...] 11. To appeal for peace and the spiritual unity of the Ukrainian community, which in foreign countries during the last decades struggled for Ukrainian statehood and autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, so therefore the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyivan Patriarchate does not have the moral right to leave without spiritual care those Ukrainian Orthodox parishes in the diaspora which, from the time of His Holiness Patriarch of Kyiv and All Ukraine Mstyslav of blessed memory, remain under the omofor of the Kyivan Patriarch and further do not desire to change their canonical position. We categorically reject the accusations addressed to our Church as supporting division in the Ukrainian diaspora, expressed, in particular, in the "Open Letter" of the Permanent Conference of Ukrainian Orthodox Bishops Beyond the Borders of Ukraine, from 14 June 1998.[...]

Signatures:

Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus'-Ukraine FILARET
Metropolitan of L'viv and Sokal' ANDRIJ
Metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna DANYLO
Metropolitan of Lutsk and Volyn YAKIV
Metropolitan of Ternopil and Buchats VASYLIJ
Archbishop of Rivne and Ostroh SERAFIM
Archbishop of Dnipropetrovsk and Kryvyj Rih ADRIAN
Archbishop of Mykolayiv and Bohoyavlensk VOLODYMYR
Archbishop of Kitsman and Zastavna VARLAAM
Bishop of Bila Tserkva OLEKSANDR
Bishop of Vyshhorod DANYIL
Bishop of Zhytomyr and Ovruch IZYASLAV
Bishop of Drohobych and Sambir FEODOSIJ
Bishop of Bilhorod and Oboyan IOASAF
Bishop of Ternopil and Kremenets IOV
Bishop of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol' HRYHORIJ
Bishop of Sumy and Okhtyrka HERONTIJ
Bishop of Khmelnytsky and Kamianets'-Podilsky ANTONIJ
Bishop of Kolomyia and Kosiv IOAN
Bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk and Halych IOASAF
Bishop of Vinnytsia and Bratslav PANKRATIJ
Bishop of Chernihiv and Nizhyn NYKON
Bishop of Kherson and Tavriysk DAMIAN
Bishop of Odessa and Balta IOAN
Bishop of Donetsk and Luhansk YURIJ
Member of the Supreme Church Council prot. Vitalij Politylo
Member of the Supreme Church Council prot. Borys Tabachek
Member of the Supreme Church Council prot. Volodymyr Cherpak
Member of the Supreme Church Council prot. Oleksandr Shvets'
Member of the Supreme Church Council

Deputy of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ivan Drach
Member of the Supreme Church Council
Deputy of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Vasyl' Chervonij
Member of the Supreme Church Council Mykola Porovskyj
Member of the Supreme Church Council leksandr Hudyma Member of the Supreme Church Council Deputy of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Pavlo Movchan

Source: http://www.brama.com/news/press/990609orthodox.html

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

And I thought the Old Calendarists were bad.

 

[Sophia89]

One more interesting post was published on another forum by Tamar Lomidze.
I'll share it here before leaving for work.

As I know, Georgia is the country that Filaret haven't dare to enter, although at one time he obviously might be welcomed there by some political actors. I vary on what stopped him. May be it was the firm stance taken by our Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II or our people's deep faith...

However, in Ukraine, UOC-KP received at least two former clerics of the Georgian Orthodox Church: Bishop Christopher (Tsamalaidze) and Archpriest Basil (Kobakhidze)

– Bishop Christopher (Tsamalaidze) who left his diocese without permission and was repeatedly condemned by the Church trials since 1995 to 2009 (suspended in 1995 and defrocked in 2003).
- Archpriest Basil (Kobakhidze) who was suspended in December, 2004 for insulting and mocking at the Church and the priests. For example, he criticized His Holiness Ilia II on repeated occasions (mainly for GOC's departure from ecumenical movement and putting Georgia "outside the united family of European Christianity"). In February 2005, Basil (Kobakhidze) was defrocked (according to him, of his own free will). Then he gave a lot of anti-Church interviews, expressed his support for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, took part in protests against the president of Belarus A.Lukashenko etc. He also was an expert for the Center of Religious Studies, the website of which http://religion.ge/ is now unavailable.

On 21 January 2006, Bishop Christopher (Tsamalaidze) and Archpriest Basil (Kobakhidze) participated in celebrations of the national Ukrainian holiday – the Day of Unity and concelebrated with "patriarch" Filaret. In the same time, one Nikolai (Inasaridze) was uncanonically ordained to priesthood and appointed rector to the newly established "Georgian" parish of the Nativity. And Ukrainian media immediately started to spread false UOC-KP leader's statements about the recognition of the "Kyivan Patriarchate" by the Georgian Orthodox Church and His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II.

In its turn, The Patriarchate of Georgia denied incongruous rumors with an official letter on 23 January 2006:
"The Georgian mass media reported that Bishop Christopher (Tsamalaidze) and Archpriest Basil Kobakhidze also arrived in Kiev to participate in celebrations and act on behalf of the Georgian Orthodox Church. In this connection, the Patriarchate of Georgia states that in compliance with the decision of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Bishop Christopher (Tsamalaidze) and Archpriest Basil Kobakhidze are unfrocked for gross and repeated violations. Their actions are unauthorized and non-canonical.

The Patriarchate of Georgia informs the Georgian community that the Georgian parish, opened in Kiev, belongs to the jurisdiction of the ‘Kievan Patriarchate’ that no one of the Autonomous Orthodox Church recognizes. It bears no relation to the Georgian Orthodox Church .As far as newly ordained ‘priest’ of this church Nikolai Inasaridze is concerned, the services conducted by him are also non-canonical."

It's interesting that one of former Tsamalaidze's clerics, Archpriest Daniel (Kiknadze), has also gone into schism and now he is in communion with the same "Patriarch Nicholas Primo" mentioned in the article about the UOC-KP Metropolitan of Paris.

I've added links and pictures from the corresponding blog post by Tamar Lomidze.

 

[Sophia89]

I've also found that there is Deanery of the so-called Kievan patriarchate in Germany: http://ukrainian-church.de

Quite a complicated case... Is there anyone who can translate from German and explain what is "Mitr. Protopresbyter" Paul Echinger's background?

 

[Sophia89]

And I was told that it is common practice for Orthodox priests to take part in the events of Templars etc. Is this right?

 

[prodromos]

And I was told that it is common practice for Orthodox priests to take part in the events of Templars etc. Is this right?

Not to my knowledge, that is, none of the priests I know would take part.
Having said that, we used to live in Thessaloniki, a city which seems to be rather blessed with wise and spiritual priests.

 

[buzuxi02]

This so called pseudo Kiev patriarch is a paid CIA actor. That's how he has funds to travel abroad and accomplish his schisms inside other nations.

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

This so called pseudo Kiev patriarch is a paid CIA actor. That's how he has funds to travel abroad and accomplish his schism abroad.

This might sound paranoid, but I don't think it's entirely implausible that the CIA props them in some way or another.

 

[Daniel Bodnar]

This might sound paranoid, but I don't think it's entirely implausible that the CIA props them in some way or another.

However, it would be good to have some evidences...

 

[Daniel Bodnar]

And I was told that it is common practice for Orthodox priests to take part in the events of Templars etc. Is this right?

As to the participating in the Templar's events, none of the priest I know would go there for sure.

 

[Daniel Bodnar]

I've also found that there is Deanery of the so-called Kievan patriarchate in Germany: http://ukrainian-church.de

Quite a complicated case... Is there anyone who can translate from German and explain what is "Mitr. Protopresbyter" Paul Echinger's background?

I can understand German and Ukrainian a little bit, so I can try to tell you what I've found about this person.

First, there was a priest named Petro in the Evloghios Hessler's heretical "Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Milan, Western Europe, and the Americas" (aka "The Holy Synod of Milan"). In Ukrainian his surname is spelled as Брук де Тралль. In 1995 he left it for Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and in 1996 was elevated to bishop. He served in Germany and among others ministered to a parish of Romanian tradition.

As to Paul Echinger, he initially belonged to ROCOR and was ordained to the priesthood in 1979. But in 1980 he divorced his wife Herta and married Doris Schooldermann. In doing so, he violated the Canon Law and thus had to be defrocked. So he moved to "The Holy Synod of Milan". By 1990 Paul Echinger had become an archpriest. Then he joined UOC-KP in 1994 and left it in 1997 (as his "Metropolitan" Evloghios did).
Then, in 1998, several clergymen and faithful people from the aforementioned UAOC parish suddenly understood the uncanonical situation of their "archbishop Petro" and decided to "fix it" by joining "The Holy Synod of Milan". The Deanery of Germany was established for this community with archpriest Paul appointed its head.
However, the very same year, Paul Echinger decided to return to UOC-KP. As a result, Filaret obtained the Deanery of Germany under his omophorion.
It's also worth noting that "patriarch" Filaret has always been OK with the second marriage of his clergyman. In October 2004, Doris Echinger was even honored with the Order of Saint Barbara in the attendance of the UOC-KP metroplitan Andrij of Lviv.

 

[ArmyMatt]

And I was told that it is common practice for Orthodox priests to take part in the events of Templars etc. Is this right?

none that I have ever heard of

 

[anna ~ grace]

I can understand German and Ukrainian a little bit, so I can try to tell you what I've found about this person.

First, there was a priest named Petro in the Evloghios Hessler's heretical "Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Milan, Western Europe, and the Americas" (aka "The Holy Synod of Milan"). In Ukrainian his surname is spelled as Брук де Тралль. In 1995 he left it for Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and in 1996 was elevated to bishop. He served in Germany and among others ministered to a parish of Romanian tradition.

As to Paul Echinger, he initially belonged to ROCOR and was ordained to the priesthood in 1979. But in 1980 he divorced his wife Herta and married Doris Schooldermann. In doing so, he violated the Canon Law and thus had to be defrocked. So he moved to "The Holy Synod of Milan". By 1990 Paul Echinger had become an archpriest. Then he joined UOC-KP in 1994 and left it in 1997 (as his "Metropolitan" Evloghios did).
Then, in 1998, several clergymen and faithful people from the aforementioned UAOC parish suddenly understood the uncanonical situation of their "archbishop Petro" and decided to "fix it" by joining "The Holy Synod of Milan". The Deanery of Germany was established for this community with archpriest Paul appointed its head.
However, the very same year, Paul Echinger decided to return to UOC-KP. As a result, Filaret obtained the Deanery of Germany under his omophorion.
It's also worth noting that "patriarch" Filaret has always been OK with the second marriage of his clergyman. In October 2004, Doris Echinger was even honored with the Order of Saint Barbara in the attendance of the UOC-KP metroplitan Andrij of Lviv.

Yikes...meaning folks with less information on their hands, looking into Orthodoxy, could easily walk into a schismatic parish and have no clue that it is so.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Yikes...meaning folks with less information on their hands, looking into Orthodoxy, could easily walk into a schismatic parish and have no clue that it is so.

Depending on where you are, that can certainly be possible.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Yikes...meaning folks with less information on their hands, looking into Orthodoxy, could easily walk into a schismatic parish and have no clue that it is so.

yeah, but fortunately, the schismatics are small in number, and are constantly schisming from themselves.

 

[anna ~ grace]

yeah, but fortunately, the schismatics are small in number, and are constantly schisming from themselves.

Yeah, tends to happen. Break away from a legitimate, Apostolic Church and unity seems impossible. Sadly.

 

[Daniel Bodnar]

Indeed, it's amazing how peaceful relationships between canonical Churches are, in spite of all disputes and differences among them, and how much hatred flows from schismatics, even those who -s-e-e-k-... no, who rather fight for canonical recognition/independence and speak of unity, forgiveness and love!