Ukraine asks the Ecumenical Patriarch to provide autocephaly for her church

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported the appeal of President Petro Poroshenko to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to recognize the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, writes “Ukrainian Truth«.

Фото: Depositphotos

Poroshenko noted that his Easter meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew was encouraging, although the dialogue between Ukraine and the universal throne about a single local church went on for years.

The president prepared an appeal to the patriarch for the provision of Tomos - in secular language, letters - on the independence of the Ukrainian church. In his opinion, this will be the restoration of historical justice:

“It was from Constantinople that the light of the Christian faith spilled onto our blessed land, which we then shared with Zalesye, where the ancient Kyiv princes very recklessly founded Moscow.”

He also emphasized that “autocephaly” should strengthen interfaith peace, and not inflame the conflict.

“Such a Tomos will strengthen our independence. He will remove the rudiments of that political project, which is called the “Russian world” and which was invented by the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was only later that the authorities of the Russian Federation adopted this political heresy, dangerous for Ukraine,” Poroshenko said.

“Our united Ukrainian Orthodox Church can become the largest in the entire Orthodox world. And I spoke about this prospect this week with the primates of all three Orthodox churches in Ukraine,” he said.

The president asked to support by decree his letter to Bartholomew, who was already supported by church hierarchs.

“I remember well that you already voted for an appeal to the Bishop in 2016. I’ll tell you a secret, this is not the first time I’ve written letters to His Holiness. But now this must be done again for diplomatic reasons in order to continue and successfully complete the multi-year negotiation process,” he said.

The president stressed that we need a church that is independent of foreign jurisdiction from the aggressor country. Poroshenko stressed that Russia uses the church to influence Ukraine. Strengthening church unity is necessary to fight the aggressor, he said.

“We are talking about our final independence from Moscow. It’s not just religion, it’s geopolitics,” the president said.

“And for me, the matter of establishing an independent local church has the same weight as the visa-free regime received, the association agreement with the European Union, as the struggle for membership in the EU and NATO, which is still ahead. It is a matter of security and defense in this hybrid war,” he said.

The emergence of a single Orthodox church will not violate the right to freedom of conscience and religion, Poroshenko said.

“I believe in Ukrainian autocephaly because I believe that it is God’s will,” the president said.

As a result, Poroshenko supported the 268 parliamentarians.

“The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decides: to support the appeal of the President of Ukraine to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant the Tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine,” the text of the resolution says.

The document comes into force from the date of its adoption.

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