The Russian Orthodox Church expects Poroshenko’s replacement to be gentler with them
The Russian Orthodox Church expects the future president of Ukraine to put an end to religious persecution, which, according to the church, began with the current head of state Petro Poroshenko, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
This was stated by the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, in an interview with one of the Russian television channels.
“Ukrainian President Poroshenko has shown himself to be a persecutor of the church. The Russian Orthodox Church expects the new president to stop persecuting the church. This is our most important expectation from the new president of Ukraine, no matter who he becomes. Those heads of state who showed themselves to be persecutors of the church, they never ended their lives well,” the Metropolitan said.
Hilarion added that he carefully followed the candidates’ words on religious topics. “It must be said that this project (an independent local church - Ed.), initiated by the current President of Ukraine Poroshenko, was supported by a number of other candidates,” he explained.
The Metropolitan admitted that if Poroshenko wins, religious policy in the country may not change. He also stated that a change in the leadership of Ukraine will allow us to hope for the provision of real freedom of religion to the citizens of the country. According to Hilarion, at present “the fundamental freedoms of Ukrainian citizens have been violated.”
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