Ukraine’s Parliament to vote for Appeal to Ecumenical Patriarch on Thursday

The parliament will vote for the appeal on Thursday. The leaders of the factions of Ukraine’s Parliament and other MPs began to sign the draft appeal of the Ukrainian parliament to Patriarch Bartholomew about the one Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

“I invite the leaders of the factions to come to me and sign the appeal,” said Speaker of the Parliament Andriy Parubiy, closing the evening plenary meeting.

According to Uazmi, Oleg Berezyuk, the head of the "Samopomich" Bloc faction, Arthur Gerasimov, the head of Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, Oleg Lyashko, the head of the "Radical Party", Head of Parliament Andriy Parubiy, his deputies Iryna Gerashchenko and Oksana Syroid.

The Opposition Bloc party takes a stand against the appeal to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on establishment of the One Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

“We believe that such an intervention will lead to an even greater split in society and Ukrainian Orthodoxy,” reads the statement of the former Party of Regions members.

The party claims that according to the Constitution, Ukraine is a secular state, therefore politicians cannot and should not interfere in the affairs of the Church.

The Opposition Bloc condemns any attempts at the political PR on issues related to the church establishment, as well as attacks against the canonical church, which are being carried out by some political forces and radical elements recently,” the statement reads.

As RISU has reported earlier, on April 17, President Poroshenko declared his intention to turn to the Archbishop of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, calling him to issue the Tomos proclaiming the One Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine. According to him, given the relevant decision of Ukraine’s Parliament, the president's appeal and the appeal of the church hierarchs, this appeal will be submitted to the Ecumenical Patriarch. "In order this can be discussed at the Synod in the nearest future and the appropriate decision can be made, we hope that such decision is adopted on the occasion of the 1030th anniversary of the baptism of Ukraine-Rus,” Poroshenko said.

On Thursday, April 19, the Ukrainian Parliament will consider the appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to establish in Ukraine the One Local Orthodox Church.

According to the polls of the Sociological Group "Rating", in July 2017, more than a third (37%) of Ukrainians uphold the creation of the one local church, 18% were against this initiative, 23% said they did not care about this issue, another 23% were undetermined with the answer. Two thirds (65%) of those who support the idea of ​​unification spoke for the creation of the one local church based on the UOC-KP, 16% spoke for unification on the basis of the UGCC, and 7% - of the UOC-MP.