The session of the Dnipropetrovsk regional Council
As it turned out, the decision to support the appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew couldn’t stand the deputies in the hall for a vote.
Officials hurried to say that the Dnipropetrovsk oblast Council supported the address to Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew of granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and posted a message about it on the official website, reports “evening Dnepr”.
The scandalous situation was commented by the Deputy of the Dnepropetrovsk regional Council from the party “Opposition bloc” Michael Razgonyaev: “the Opposition bloc Faction in the regional Council expressed strong condemnation of government attempts to interfere in the Affairs of the Church and called it a usurpation of the power law of the Orthodox community for its destiny”.
In his opinion, the appeal for autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church is a violation of article 35 of the Constitution, guaranteeing religious freedom and state interference in Church Affairs.
As explained by the Deputy, despite the message on the official website of the Dnepropetrovsk regional Council, statement in support of the appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch in the conference room for the vote is not compromised, and the decision to support it was not taken.
As the situation with the treatment was very intense, the leadership of the regional Council was limited to the collection of signatures six MPs. The Opposition bloc faction has strongly opposed the appeal.
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.