Patriarch Sviatoslav Talks About Crisis in Church-State Relations

16.01.2013, 09:34
Patriarch Sviatoslav Talks About Crisis in Church-State Relations - фото 1
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk said that the fact that the president signed alterations to the Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” compelled heads of churches to talk about a crisis in church-state relations.

Cвятослав.jpgThe head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in an interview to the newspaper Day that the fact that the president signed alterations to the Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” compelled heads of churches to talk about a crisis in church-state relations.  

“There is talk but there is no dialogue. Developments take place regardless of the position expressed by the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) and the promises given by the president,” stated the Primate.

Patriarch Sviatoslav spoke about the prehistory of signing these alterations as it follows from the paradigm of communication between the president and the AUCCRO and the paradigm of building church-state relations in the last 15 years, which is how long the AUCCRO has been around.

The hierarch stressed that the AUCCRO is trying to build church-state relations on a parity basis. “That is we consider ourselves partners with respect to the authorities but not subjects by any means,” said the patriarch.

“Despite our communication and cooperation, on October 16, the Supreme Council passed the Law 'On Freedom of Consience' ignoring the position of the churches. The day after, a meeting with the president was held where Viktor Fedorovych [Yanukovych] heard our arguments and agreed to veto it. However, he did not do that. This fact compelled the heads of churches to talk about the crisis in church-state relations. Now, unfortunately, this paradigm of church-state relations has been ruined,” said the patriarch.