St. Andrew’s Church
Restoration work at St. Andrew’s Church could end up before the term in connection with the transfer of the building to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, said Rostislav Pavlenko.
Advisor to the President of Ukraine, Director of the National Institute for strategic studies Rostyslav Pavlenko suggests that the reconstruction of St. Andrew’s Church in Kiev, transferred the Patriarchate of Constantinople, will be accelerated. He said this on 5 November at a briefing for journalists, writes Interfax-Ukraine.
“2020 year (planned year of completion – approx. ed.) is the deadline. I understand that, if necessary, within reasonable bounds, it will be accelerated. The important thing is that the respective law adopted in Ukraine on the transfer of the use, ownership, and use of, this Church to the Ecumenical Patriarchate”, – said Pavlenko.
He also said that the building will house the representative office of the Ecumenical Patriarch, which will perform the functions of the Embassy.
“This is the work of the mission, that is what we expect from the Embassy: the maintenance of bilateral contacts, first of all, with the independent Ukrainian Church; where state support is required in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, the Ukrainian government and the Ecumenical Orthodoxy; relations between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other Orthodox churches,” – said Pavlenko.
The restoration project of St. Andrew’s Church, begun in 2010, was supposed to be finished in 2020.
October 18, the Verkhovna Rada voted for the transfer of St. Andrew’s Church Fanaru. People’s deputies from “Oppositional block” in the same day submitted to the Parliament a draft on the abolition of the transfer of St. Andrew’s Church the Patriarchate of Constantinople.