The head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, described the attempt of the Patriarchate of Constantinople as illegitimate to restore the Ukrainian Church under its administration. In the program "Church and Peace" on the TV channel "Russia 24" Metropolitan Hilarion said that the efforts of the Department of External Church Relations and the "Orthodox Encyclopedia" in the archives found about 900 pages of documents showing that in the XVII century, the Metropolitanate of Kiev moved to the Moscow Patriarchate forever.

Correspondence disproves the view of Constantinople that the transfer of control was temporary, the hierarch noted..

Letters between patriarchates, rulers of Ukraine and Russian sovereigns are ready for publication.

"Only a part of these documents is known to Constantinople. But we are ready to put them on the table, "- said the Metropolitan.

Three hundred years, the Patriarchate of Constantinople did not make claims to the Metropolitan of Kiev, said Hilarion. "He called the patriarch of Moscow" the patriarch of the Great, Little and White Russia - the title speaks for itself, "said the Metropolitan.