Religious scholar Filipovich: “The Patriarch of Constantinople will not agree to an exarchate”

Lyudmila Filipovich, a religious scholar, Doctor of Philosophy, and lobbyist for the OCU, expressed her views on possible ways to resolve the Ukrainian church conflict. According to Filipovich, one should not expect the Patriarch of Constantinople to intervene in the situation, since he has already granted the Tomos. However, the religious scholar believes that the UOC and the OCU must “reset” all their grievances and return to the roots of the conflict in order to begin a meaningful dialogue. She spoke about this in an interview with the publication “Grunt.”

“The Patriarch of Constantinople will not agree to an exarchate, because he granted the Tomos not only to the OCU but to all Orthodox Christians in Ukraine—on the condition that all Orthodox branches unite to create a single local church,” says religious scholar Lyudmila Filipovich.

The religious scholar added that to resolve the issue, the state must demonstrate constructive interest and, in essence, act as a mediator between the UOC and the OCU. In turn, the denominations could abandon their current mutual grievances and return to 1991, when the church schism in Ukraine began.

“If the Ukrainian state shows constructive interest in the UOC, and the UOC also shows interest in the state—since until now there have been only grievances—then it will be possible to achieve something. Dialogue is needed at various levels: between representatives of secular and ecclesiastical authorities, between educational institutions, and within the clergy of both the UOC and the OCU—to openly discuss the issue of the division of Orthodoxy and begin involving the faithful in the dialogue. It so happened that the churches chose different political and ecclesiological paradigms in their lives. But it is worth going back to square one, to the starting point of 1991, acknowledging the crisis that has not been resolved in 30 years, and beginning to engage in meaningful conversation,” she concluded.

As a reminder, we recently reported that the Geneva-based human rights organization “Justice for All” (JPTi)documented instances of persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by filing a detailed complaint with the UN. In response, UN experts sent an official letter to the Ukrainian government, confirming violations of international law. In addition, the organization appealed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) demanding that it hold a hearing on this issue and add Ukraine to the list of countries of particular concern.