P.Ts.U. HEAD DISCUSSES
INTERCONFESSIONAL
SITUATION IN UKRAINE WITH GERMAN AMBASSADOR
Religiia
v Ukraine, 20 September 2019
Metropolitan Epifany, the
head of the
PTsU [Orthodox Church of Ukraine] on 18 September met with the
ambassador of
the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine, Anka Feldhusen. The
parties
discussed a wide range of pressing issues. They talked in
particular about the
interconfessional situation in Ukraine, the path that the church
has taken to
get the patriarchal and synodal tomos concerning autocephaly
from the
Constantinople church, the importance of this event for the
whole Ukrainian
nation, and the process of the recognition of the PTsU on the
part of other
local churches, Religiia v Ukraine reports, with reference to
Pomisna.info.
Also present in the
meeting was the
deputy head of the Department of External Church Relations,
Archbishop of
Chernigov and Nezhin Evstraty.
The head of the PTsU
noted that Moscow brings
substantial resources for counteracting the PTsU and the process
of its
formation. "Russia allocates great resources for resisting us,
but the
main factor in victory is the truth, and that is on our side,"
said
Metropolitan Epifany.
Responding to the guest's
question about
the transfer of parishes into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,
the primate
emphasized that he is an absolute supporter of an exclusively
voluntary
process, which would correspond to the laws of Ukraine. "We are
not interested
in drawing in anybody by force; this contradicts both Christian
values and
common sense. After all, it is understandable that you cannot
gobble up anybody
by compulsion and such a process will not have any result," the
vladyka
noted.
"In this time, about 600
parishes
have joined us and it is clear that this cannot be done by
force. Those minor
conflicts about which certain news media sometimes report
obviously are the
result of deliberate provocation aimed at creating corresponding
pictures of
'persecution,' in which our opponents are extremely interested,"
Metropolitan Epifany added.
In addition the parties
touched on the
issue of the transfer of premises on Lutheran Street to the
Orthodox Church of
Ukraine. In its time, the German Lutheran congregation of Kiev
tried to get
this building. The metropolitan noted that the PTsU is open to
dialogue and
ready to find a compromise resolution that will satisfy
everybody.
At the conclusion of the
conversation,
the primate of the PTsU presented commemorative publications to
the ambassador
and thanked her for the meeting. (tr. by PDS, posted 21
September 2019)
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