Patriarch Sviatoslav Denies Accusations of Proselytism

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, denied accusations of proselytism made by a local representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate after his visit to Kirovohrad.

Patriarch Sviatoslav visited Kirovohrad to meet with the faithful Greek Catholics and the leadership of the region.

“Our presence in that territory is not proselytism. We visit our own people. It is the right of each believer to have his pastor. We are not newcomers in the territory of the modern Kirovohrad region. As for the presence of the faithful Greek Catholics and existence of our churches, these were the facts of history here,” noted the patriarch.

According to him, he visited Kirovohrad for the first time. “It is my first pastoral visit to a place within the Odesa-Crimea Exarchate, but Kirovohrad is like a native town me since two sisters of my father lived here. One of them already died. My aunts were sent here after graduation from higher education institutes,” said the head of the UGCC.

The hierarch is also to visit Kherson, Odesa, Crimea, reported the Information Department of UGCC.