LEONID KRAVCHUK AND VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO DISCUSS CHURCH CRISIS IN UKRAINE WITH PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Religiia v Ukraine, 27 August 2015
On 17 August 2015, former presidents of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk and Viktor Yushchenko paid a visit to the Constantinople patriarchate. They discussed the state of affairs in Ukraine with Patriarch Bartholomew, Religiia v Ukraine reports, with reference to Sedmitsa.ru.
Leonid Kravchuk and Viktor Yushchenko were accompanied by the Ukrainian consul general in Istanbul, V. Bodnar, consuls V. Yakimenko and Yu. Grinevetsky, deputy consul and translator O. Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko's brother Petr Yushchenko, the director of security service G. Konopolsky, and L. Kravchuk's aide O. Sibirtseva.
The Ukrainian delegation was greeted with honors at the central entrance to the patriarchate by Metropolitan of Gallipoli and Maydos Stephen, who is a protosyncellus, andby clergy of the Constantinople patriarchate, the news agency Romfeya reports.
Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew received the former first persons of Ukraine in his office, where "in a warm atmosphere" a two-hour conversation took place in which topics of the contemporary political situation in Ukraine and the church crisis in the country were touched upon.
During the conversation, hierarchs of the Constantinople patriarchate were present: Metropolitan of Tallin and all-Estonia Stefan, Metropolitan of Gaul Emmanuel, and Archimandrite Bartholomew, the chief secretary of the Holy Synod of the Constantinople Orthodox Church.
As reported, the guests "expressed sincere feelings of joy and emotion because of their presence in the court of the primary see of the church and also their respect and devotion for it." They informed Patriarch Bartholomew about what is happening in the country, stating that "they see in the mediation of the Mother Church and in the cooperation of the internationally recognized personality of His Holiness, for the canonical resolution of the deep church schism in Ukraine, an invaluable contribution to the restoration of the national integrity of the pious Ukrainian people."
In response, the primate of the Constantinople Church recalled his visit to Ukraine in July 2008, when he participated, along with primates of other local churches, in the celebration of the 1,020th anniversary of the baptism of Rus. Patriarch Bartholomew assured Kravchuk and Yushchenko that "within the framework of its coordinating responsibility for the affairs of Orthodoxy, the prayerful support of the Mother Church for peace throughout the world and for reconciliation in Ukraine remains fervent and constant, as he recently declared in his speech during a pilgrimage to the monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos of Sumela."
The Ukrainian guests participated in a patriarchal dinner followed by the exchange of gifts and photography for the memory. Before departing the patriarchate, the former presidents and their entourage visited the patriarchal cathedral of the Holy Martyr George the Conqueror, whose history and sacred relics were described by the great syncellus Ambrose.
The website Sedmitsa.ru, which regularly and zealously defends the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, comments on this event as follows: "As is evident, the Ukrainian political leaders of a nationalistic orientation are not stopping their attempts at interference in the church life of Ukraine and at involving the Constantinople patriarchate in them. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church recently made a statement regarding the violation of canons by hierarchs of the Constantinople Orthodox Church, acting in Ukraine without the blessing of the hierarchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and regularly making contacts with schismatic communities."
We recall that on 28 July, the Day of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko noted in his speech on Vladimir Hill in Kiev that a united local Orthodox church will help to unite the country. The head of state thanked hierarchs of the Constantinople church, in particular those who came to Kiev for the celebration, for their cooperation in overcoming church division.
Thus the visit by the two former presidents of Ukraine to the Constantinople patriarchate fully corresponds to that vision of the prospects for the development of the church situation in Ukraine, which Petro Poroshenko outlined in his speech.
However, the secretary for inter-Orthodox relations of the OVTsS of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, commenting on the visit for the celebrations in Kiev by the metropolitans of UPTs of the Constantinople patriarchate, expressed the hope that those church hierarchs were imposters. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 August 2015)
Background articles:
Ukrainian
president injects himself into church unity cause
July 29, 2015
Moscow
church irritated by Ukrainian president's actions
July 30, 2015
Moscow
Orthodox church fends off Constantinople's role in Ukraine
August 3, 2015
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