Patriarch Emeritus Filaret made a will: what it says
19 October 18:03
Patriarch Emeritus Filaret has officially drawn up a spiritual testament, a document in which he set out his vision of the future of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and his own instructions after his death.
This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian".
In the document, Bishop Filaret emphasizes that he has devoted his entire life to the development of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church and believes in the full unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, independent of Moscow.
He also calls on the clergy to stop quarreling and finally unite all the Orthodox branches of Ukraine into a single independent Local Church;
Emphasizes that this council should be held in Kyiv as the spiritual center of the Ukrainian state;
Confirms his election in 1995 as head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate and bequeaths the preservation of the Kyiv Patriarchate as a form of church government;
Separately, he orders that after his death, the funeral and funeral service be held at St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv, and that the bishops of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate, not the OCU, conduct the funeral;
He appeals to Ukrainians to preserve the faith, tradition, and independence of the Church – “this is the highest way to serve God and Ukraine.”
The document was signed by the Patriarch Emeritus with his own hand, with the final formula “By the grace of God, Filaret, Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine.”
