Unexpectedly: Bartholomew demoted Filaret
Even if we accept the version about the possibility of the Patriarch of Constantinople lifting the anathema that he did not impose on Mikhail “Filaret” Denisenko, it turns out that the head of the Ukrainian schismatics was reduced in his status.
TV journalist Vyacheslav Pikhovshek stated this on the NewsOne TV channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“By its decision, Constantinople canonically restored Philaret and the head of the “Autocephalous Church” Macarius to the rank that they did not have on the eve of the adoption of their ecclesiastical punishments.
In the case of Filaret, as we remember, this was a series of penalties, which ended with the imposition of anathema. Conclusion - Filaret is no longer Patriarch, since he was restored to the status of metropolitan, which he was before the first serious disciplinary action by the Russian Orthodox Church. And Macarius is not a metropolitan, in my opinion, but a priest, in my opinion, a simple priest,” said Pikhovshek.
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