RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Ukrainian legislature moves closer to ecclesiastical independence

PARLIAMENT SUPPORTS APPEAL OF PRESIDENT TO ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

RISU, 19 April 2018

 

Today, 19 April, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada supported Petro Poroshenko's appeal to the ecumenical patriarch requesting the grant of a tomos about autocephaly for the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Two-hundred-sixty-eight deputies voted "yea."

 

Of the 334 people's deputies registered in the session hall, 268 voted for the draft of resolution No. 8284. In particular, from the "Petro Poroshenko Bloc," 99 deputies supported the draft of the document; from "National Front," 73; from "Self-Help," 19; from the Radical Party, 16; from "Homeland," 15; and from the "People's Will" group, 11. At the same time, only 1 deputy from the "Regeneration" group voted "yea," and none from the "Opposition Bloc."

 

Before the voting, the Ukrainian president addressed the assembly. He explained that the dialogue between representatives of the government and the Constantinople patriarchate has continued for several years and now the opportune moment has arrived for receiving the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

 

"All local churches [i.e., in other countries—tr.] have been recognized by means of the involvement of the state in the process. Constantinople demands this," Poroshenko declared.

 

The president recalled that it was from Tsargrad that Orthodoxy came to Ukraine and it was from us that it spread to the Russian lands (Zalesye), where Ukrainian princes thoughtlessly founded Moscow.

 

The head of state urged severing the church cord with Moscow. He also recalled that it was Russian church figures who devised the concept of the "Russian World," which the Kremlin later weaponized.

 

The president maintains that the churches finally have agreed to forget about old disputes for the sake of unification and recognition.

 

Autocephaly is given not so much to a specific church as to a country, the president emphasized. It is for this reason that the Ukrainian government is also participating in this process. It is not only religion here; here it is geopolitics. This event stands on a par with the question of visa free travel and the signing of an association agreement.

 

Separately the guarantor of the constitution noted that this event does not violate the constitutional principle of separation of church from the state. He also emphasized that those who want to remain within the Moscow patriarchate retain such a right for themselves.

 

Calling for the support of the president's appeal to Bartholomew were the heads of practically all fractions, the head of the Verkhovna Rada, Andrei Parubii, and the first deputy head of the Committee of Affairs of Culture and Spirituality, Irina Podolyak.

 

Representatives of the Opposition Bloc spoke out categorically in opposition, who all came out onto the parliamentary tribune. The head of the fraction, Yury Boiko, accused the president of interference in church affairs. Boiko's address was accompanied by shouts of  "Shame!"

 

After the successful vote, President Poroshenko thanked the deputies and declared that this position on autocephaly corresponds to the mood of the entire Ukrainian society.

 

"The cornerstone of the policy of the president and the majority of deputies was the point of cooperation in the creation of a local Orthodox church. The state should not interfere in internal church affairs. A foreign state should not intervene in the church affairs of a neighboring state," the president emphasized.

 

The day before, on Wednesday, 18 April, the standing Committee on Affairs of Culture and Spirituality recommended to deputies to support the president's appeal as a foundation and as a whole.

 

We recall that on Tuesday, 17 April, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko invited representatives of the parliamentary fractions to his office and declared his intention to request autocephaly for the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. He also suggested that the necessary agreement with Patriarch Bartholomew had already been achieved and the question was just the preparation of the formal aspect of the matter. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 April 2018)


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