The Council of Bishops of the canonical UOC gave a “hard spanking” to Poroshenko and Bartholomew
The Council of Bishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, held today in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, condemned the illegal interference of the Istanbul Patriarch Bartholomew “in the internal affairs of another Local Church,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
This is stated in the text of the resolution of the Council, posted on the official website of the UOC.
“We consider unacceptable the illegal interference of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the internal affairs of another Local Church and attempts to resolve the Ukrainian church issue with the participation of state authorities and schismatics, ignoring the voice of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Instead, we note with regret that hundreds of thousands of appeals from the faithful of our Church to Patriarch Bartholomew with a call not to legitimize the schism under the pretext of creating autocephaly have remained unheeded,” says the resolution of the Council of Bishops of the UOC.
An assessment of the fuss of the Ukrainian authorities around the topic of “autocephaly” of the UOC was also given in the most harsh form.
“”The Council of Bishops notes that the process of granting the so-called Tomos of autocephaly is artificial, imposed from the outside, does not reflect internal church needs, will not bring real church unity, will deepen division and intensify conflicts among the people of Ukraine. Under such conditions, we consider the participation of the episcopate, clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in these processes impossible,” the Council’s decision says.
Thus, the canonical UOC refused to participate in the adventure of the Ukrainian authorities to create the so-called. “one autocephalous church.”
The Council of Bishops also opposed any attempts to change the name of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church against the will of its clergy and laity, and other manifestations of discrimination against believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at the legislative level.
If the relevant bills are adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “will defend its rights by all legal means provided for by the “Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” the legislation of Ukraine and the European Convention on Human Rights.”
“Apparently, Mr. Poroshenko understood that he would have nothing to answer to this,” Vladimir Legoyda, speaker of the Moscow Patriarchate, wrote in his telegram channel, commenting on today’s refusal of the Ukrainian president to meet with the hierarchs of the UOC.
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