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Priest elected from Fatherland party will be forced to leave

30.10.2015, 10:31
By the results of the parliamentary elections, Father Volodymyr Hrynda, a Greek Catholic priest, will sit for Fatherland party in Ternopil city council.

By the results of the parliamentary elections, Father Volodymyr Hrynda, a Greek Catholic priest, will sit for Fatherland party in Ternopil city council.

However, he will be forced either to abandon the mandate, or be suspended in service as a priest. The Archeparchial administration tend to the first option, according to 20 minutes website.

The fact that some UGCC ran for elections on their own discretion and, despite the Church prohibition, have not received permission from their bishops. Therefore the Church announces that the fathers will have to withdraw their mandates.

“Metropolitan Basil gave no blessing to priests to stand for elections, so even if they win, they will have to withdraw their mandates,” the press service of the Ternopil-Zboriv Archdiocese of the UGCC reports.  “A special committee will consider every such instance of standing for and winning in elections.”

Administrator of the Patriarchal Curia and the Secretary of Synod of the UGCC Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh pointed out that the priests of the UGCC participated in the elections contrary to the church law.

“Since we did not delegate Father Hrynda to stand for elections, as soon as we learned about it, there was a conversation with him. The priest during the period of campaigning, given the limitation for clergymen to stand for election, submitted and registered in the election commission a statement on withdrawal of his candidacy,” the archdiocesan administration comments. “He should have done it before October 6, but he did it later.”

The priest’s statement on withdrawal of his candidacy remains valid.

Therefore, the priest is not in the city council.

We contacted with the priest, but he said he could not comment.

An important document regulating the activities of clergymen during the elections is the Instruction on conduct of the UGCC clergy during political campaigns.

“Therefore, the Church resolutely and unambiguously calls her priests to refrain from active political action either as leaders or as propagandists: Every pastor should neither take leadership functions (leadership), nor stand for a certain political party,” the document goes.

The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches in this regard also expresses its unequivocal position: “They cannot either take any active participation in political parties or head trade unions.”

However, they state the existence of “specific exceptional circumstances,” which allowed such activities. But even in such circumstances, the priest can act in the political sphere only on a clear blessing of the ruling bishop who previously reconciled this decision with the head of the Church. Hierarchs who provide such approval must be convinced that such activities are required to defend the common good of the Church or the Ukrainian society.”