After Filaret’s speech the process of prisoner exchange is under the threat of failure, – UOC hierarch

The prisoner exchange and dialogue between the east and the west of Ukraine can be complicated by the involvement of representatives of the Kyiv Patriarchate in the process, said Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhie and Melitopol in an interview with the blogger Anatoly Shariy.

The hierarch stressed that there was no place for the head of the UOC-KP. "Who called him there – I cannot say. He once again testifyed his hypocrisy before people and God. How can you ask for arms, how can you call for murder, and at the same time come and meet them?" he argued.

Vladyka expressed his concern that after Filaret’s speech people from both sides of the demarcation line can destroy "the bridge that was created with such difficulty".

According to Metropolitan Luke, one of the factors of rejection of the events of 2014 by Donbass parishioners was precisely the fact that the information about enforcing the Kyiv Patriarchate was spread.

Earlier Archbishop Clement of Nezhin and Priluki reported that the UOC, taking the most active part in the exchange of prisoners, distances itself from the political component of this process.

The prisoner exchange took place on December 27 in the "306-for-74" format.