ON DAY OF UNIFICATION COUNCIL JOINT PRAYER FOR AUTOCEPHALY OF UKRAINIAN CHURCH WILL BE CONDUCTED ON SOPHIA SQUARE
Interfax-Ukraina, 9 December 2018
The Ukrainian writer and diplomat Yury Shcherbak, the poet Dmitry Pavlychko, the journalist Yury Doroshenko, and the dissident Bogdan Goryn urged Ukrainians to arrive for a joint prayer, which will occur on Sophia Square in the center of Kiev on 15 December.
"We call all who are not indifferent to the fate of our native church and who wish to finally break the shackles of imperialistic Muscovite Orthodoxy to come on 15 December 2018 at 9:00 a.m. to Sophia Square, behind whose ancient walls there will occur the unification council," the text of their joint appeal says, which was published on the social network Facebook page of the public organization Tomos 2018 on Sunday.
The authors of the appeal call the approaching day of the grant by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the tomos regarding autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church "a day of the historic triumph of Ukraine" and they note that this "will restore justice and the right inspired by God to the creation of a canonical autocephalous conciliar Orthodox Ukrainian church."
"We believe that our national prayer will merge with the prayer of the Ukrainian bishops in order to support the sacred deed of receiving the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We believe that the Mother of God and Protectress of Ukraine will hear our prayer and bless our land and nation for a free and peaceful life," the appeal notes.
As reported, on 29 November the Holy Synod of the ecumenical patriarchate confirmed the draft of the charter of the local church in Ukraine. A tomos granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will become part of the charter of the independent church.
On 5 December, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reported that the unification council for creating the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be held on 15 December in the cathedral of Holy Wisdom [Hagia Sophia] in Kiev. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 December 2018)
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