“And here comes Russia!”: Advisor to former President Yushchenko reveals who is “to blame” for the failure to recognize the Ukrainian schism in 2008

Advisor to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko (2005-2010) Valentina Rudenko said that during Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to Ukraine in 2008, it was Patriarch Kirill, who at that time was the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department for External Church Relations, who advised the head of the Phanar not to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. According to Rudenko, it was the meeting between Metropolitan Kirill and Patriarch Bartholomew that prevented the legalization of the Ukrainian schism. This was reported by Glavkom.

“He (Kirill, – Glavkom) arrived completely unexpectedly, unprepared for such a visit, but he requested an audience with the Patriarch. And the Patriarch spoke with him for about four hours. After he spoke with him, there was no more discussion,” – Rudenko noted.

According to Yushchenko’s adviser, the patriarch came out after that conversation and said, “Let’s just say that this is my first visit to this holy land.”

It should be noted that Ms. Rudenko, consciously or not, is distorting the facts related to the events of 2008. It is well known that the process of healing the Ukrainian church schism and the dialogue on unification were disrupted by the then head of the so-called Kyiv Patriarchate, Filaret Denisenko, who considered himself the only possible candidate for the position of primate of the Ukrainian Church.