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06.11.2007, [17:30] // Orthodox // RISU.ORG.UA

Washington – During his visit to the United States, which started on 26 October 2007, Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko) of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), met with American congressmen, among them US Congressman Gus Michael Bilirakis, member of the House of Representatives from Florida and co-chair of a Congressional committee dealing with issues concerning Greece. The participants discussed issues relating to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and inter-Orthodox relations.

The meeting of Patriarch Filaret and the US congressmen brought about a negative reaction from the Department on External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchy. In his commentary Vasyl Anisimov, head of the UOC press service expressed hope that the American congressman would be excommunicated from the Church for participating in this meeting. “If a representative of the Greek Church met with Denysenko, Archbishop Khrystodul would excommunicate him from the church,” said Vasyl Anisimov.

cerkva.info expressed doubts about Anisimov’s statement, saying: “The history of the church never included cases in which politicians were excommunicated from the church for meeting with denominational leaders. Moreover, it is not a secret that the jurisdiction of the Hellas Church does not reach beyond the territory of Greece and that the US Orthodox Greek communities fall under the jurisdiction of Patriarch Bartholomew I. Thus, Archbishop Khrystodul has no canonical right to lay canonical bans on the American congressman who belongs to another Orthodox Church.”