President of Ukraine met with a delegation from Fanara
The main theme of the meeting was the question of granting of the Tomos of autocephaly in Ukraine.
On 27 July the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with the delegation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, who arrived in Ukraine to participate in the events dedicated to 1030 anniversary of the baptism of Rus, the official website of the President of Ukraine.
The President thanked Patriarch Bartholomew “for the constant care of the Mother Church of the faithful of the Ukrainian people, who are going through difficult times of aggression against our country by the Russian Federation in connection with the illegal annexation of Crimea”.
According to Poroshenko, Ukraine hopes for the decision on granting of the Tomos.
“This is a historic moment for Ukraine and the Ukrainian Church to return to the bosom of Mother Church,” – said the head of state.
Etmanski Bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada, Metropolitan Hilarion read out a message from Patriarch Bartholomew, which notes the importance of the baptism of St. Vladimir from the mother Church of Constantinople in the metropolis of Chersonesos and of the baptism of Ukraine-Rus. “The newborn people come under spiritual leadership, unbridled care and Church cover Church of Constantinople through the creation of the Metropolitanate of Kiev and all Russia, which became the sixties, the metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate”, – stated in the message.
The document also stresses Fanara desire to unite the Orthodox in Ukraine.
“Recognizing the high responsibility of the mother see of the Church of Constantinople, which never ceased, and did not humble themselves before the illegal and non-canonical situations which shook the natural functioning of the Orthodox Church, and in these challenging times she took the initiative to restore the unity of the Orthodox believers of Ukraine with the ultimate aim to bestow the Ukrainian Church autocephaly”, – stated in the text of the document.
Earlier in the UOC said that the creation of a parallel jurisdiction in Ukraine will preserve the split for the ages.
In mid-April, Poroshenko appealed to the Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew to grant the Tomos of autocephaly of the Church in Ukraine and announced the creation of a Single Local Church. The Verkhovna Rada supported the President. In the Kyiv Patriarchate has already declared that they see on the head ETC its leader, Filaret, a devotee of the canonical Church anathema.