Metropolitan Filaret of Lviv has never been so close to failure. And if he himself so openly reveals himself, then we have nothing to keep silent about. On September 13, 2023, in one of the UOC churches in the capital, there was a presentation of the book “The Elder Joseph of Vatoped”, which Metropolitan Filaret (Kucherov) of Lviv and Galicia had a hand in publishing.

In general, the event is ordinary and quite ordinary, if it were not for one “but”. At this event, as if unintentionally, there was another important guest, namely, the Exarch of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Ukraine, Bishop Michael (Anishchenko) of Coma. Not that the representatives of the UOC had no contacts with Anishchenko before this case, but earlier such “friendly meetings” were held secretly, in an intimate atmosphere. However, this time, everything is quite different.

Let us begin with the fact that according to the decision of the Council of Bishops of the UOC on November 13, 2018, the Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople was broken. It happened in view of the non-canonical actions of the Phanar on the territory of Ukraine, as a result of which, incidentally, Metropolitan of Lviv himself almost completely lost his diocese and even the only Cathedral Church and the premises of the diocesan office. Although, unlike the Russian Orthodox Church, the UOC did not prohibit humanitarian communication with representatives of the Phanar, nevertheless, the moral aspect of such joint events is highly questionable. For example, the same Anishchenko absolutely does not hesitate to serve the OCU in newly seized churches, thus actually supporting their aggressive raiding policy towards the UOC.

Nevertheless, the fact of a joint event between representatives of the UOC episcopate and the Phanar did not surprise us. Our readers have already paid attention to the information we published earlier that some representatives of the UOC episcopate had a meeting with Metropolitan Emmanuel Adamakis of Chalcedon, who recently came to the capital. According to our information, the core of this process on the part of the UOC was Metropolitan Filaret. Earlier, we remind you, it was the head of the Lviv diocese of the UOC with an unclear visit to the Church of Cyprus, with which the UOC has also broken Eucharistic communion. In private conversations, the Metropolitan boasted that the seizure of the Lviv Cathedral and the diocesan administration is a temporary phenomenon. “We will return everything in the fall,” the vladyka emphasized.

We will explain why Metropolitan Filaret is so confident about his future and open to the Patriarchate of Constantinople a little later. Let us pay attention to another fact, known in narrow circles, from the peculiarities of the management of this bishop’s cathedra. How often have you met information about seizures of UOC churches in Lviv region? Among the known and most replicated events are the seizure of the Cathedral in Lviv and the demolition of St. Vladimir’s Church in the same Lviv (Sikhiv neighborhood). There are also known individual cases in the region, but they are isolated. At the time before 2018, the Lviv diocese of the UOC had about a hundred parishes. Nevertheless, according to Metropolitan Filaret himself, there are practically no temples left in his diocese. But where did they go?

There is a dark spot in the “seizure statistics” of the UOC in the place of the Lviv diocese. Neither in official sources, nor in any other sources, you will not find data on how many UOC churches in Lvivshchyna were seized and how many remained. The whole point is that Metropolitan Filaret hid this information from the Metropolis. “I have everything under control,” the Metropolitan always cut off.

However, the Metropolitan’s “under control” actually took bizarre forms. The bishop Filaret developed a very specific format for the existence of parishes in the territory of the Lviv diocese. When local priests asked their ruling bishop for advice on further actions after the granting of the Tomos of autocephaly by the Phanar to Ukrainian schismatic associations, the Metropolitan advised them to “transfer to the OCU in order to retain their churches.

As a half-measure, the following form of commemoration of the highest spiritual leadership was also proposed: the head of the OCU – in public (at Litanies and entrances), and the Primate of the UOC – in secret, at proskomidia.

Using such a “blessing”, most of the diocese quietly migrated to the OCU, and those who were not satisfied with the metropolitan’s option were left without churches. Metropolitan Filaret himself believes that the connection with these parishes was preserved through that bizarre form of “secret commemoration” of the Primate of the UOC. Whether the priests who have converted to the OCU believe the same is an open question.

Separately, it is worth considering what Metropolitan Filaret’s overt activity towards the Patriarchate of Constantinople is connected with. The fact is that the Metropolitan – as well as his individual colleagues – believe that the decision to break the Eucharistic communion of the UOC with the Phanar, which was adopted at the Council of Bishops of the UOC in 2018, is an unnecessary measure. They acted like the ROC, and the time is such that one should look at issues more broadly. Nevertheless, the bishop did not publicly state his attitude to the issue. It is obvious that since 2018 he has been considering options for resuming communication with the Greeks, believing that it is this format of relations that will help him retain, and maybe even strengthen, his position.

Thus, the bishop began to actively communicate about the future of the UOC with the Greeks. It is difficult to say exactly how many such meetings he had. However, we can say with certainty that he was in close contact with the Phanar exarch, Bishop Michael, through whom, in fact, the formats for the further existence of the UOC in Ukraine and the role of Metropolitan Filaret in all this were developed.

According to our sources, several options were considered, which can be realized after the complete ban of the UOC at the legislative level. It is this legal step that keeps them from being realized today. It is characteristic that at this stage Filaret and his henchmen are not ready to transfer to the OCU because of the unambiguous attitude of the majority of believers and a significant part of the clergy of the UOC.

Speaking about the forms of further existence of the UOC, the conspirators considered the following. The first is the merger of all comers with the Exarchate of the Phanar in Ukraine. In this case, this entire branch would be headed by Bishop of Koman. In principle, this idea has certain followers, who have given themselves away by signing endless delusional appeals of Archpriest Andrei Pinchuk, who is banned from ministry. That is why the number of these “initiatives” was so large to identify as many supporters of this variant of events as possible.

The second is the revival of the Galician Metropolitanate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which existed during the 14th-15th centuries. This option is very convenient for Metropolitan Filaret himself, because it is obvious that if such a format is approved, the center of this union will be Lviv. Perhaps this is why Metropolitan Filaret claimed to change his position in the fall.

There is also a third, more extravagant option, with several “unknowns”. According to the available unverified information, the Greeks want Metropolitan Filaret to be vicar in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, after the creation of another stavropigion on the basis of the monastery. The following logic can be traced in this variant. Filaret is from the UOC, not tainted by his conversion to the OCU and even from among the brethren of the CPL, because he started his activity in this monastery. A very suitable candidate for such a position. Moreover, isn’t that why Avrahamiy Lotysh is still listed as “acting vicar”?

It is difficult to say which of the options will be realized in practice. However, the joint participation of Metropolitan Filaret and Michael’s episcopate in such an innocuous event is a signal that some changes in this matter are definitely coming. The actors of this conspiracy have essentially stepped out of the shadows, ceasing to hide, thus giving a conditional signal to all the undecided that there is not much time left.