Nobody can stop Ukrainians who build their own state and take off the yoke of the Moscow church - President

President Petro Poroshenko congratulated the residents of Vinnytsia on the formation of the UOC and thanked all those who prayed and supported the historic process of uniting the church and granting the Tomos of autocephaly.

The President stressed that work on the establishment of independence had not yet been completed. According to him, this is the beginning for spiritual work, and new parishes are joining the Orthodox Church of Ukraine every day.

"This is just the beginning. And we need unity even more now. The Lord has given us unity, and no one can stop Ukraine and Ukrainians on our way of building our own state. No one is able to stop Ukrainians in leaving the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. No one can stop Ukraine and Ukrainians who take off the yoke of the Moscow church and the Moscow empire," he said.

"No one can stop Ukrainians on the way to our freedom, to the European Union," he added.

The President stressed that the church should be protected from the influence of the state, especially from the influence of the foreign state. "And now we are protecting our state and our church from influence with love and prayer. Because we are Ukrainians and we will not ask anyone for permission what church to visit," he added.

Petro Poroshenko especially emphasized the great significance of the formation of a single Orthodox Church not only for spiritual life, but also for the state as a whole. "This is an extremely important spiritual component of our independence. It is no less important than the Act of State Independence and the referendum on state independence. The formation of Ukrainian independence has become stronger now with the creation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church," he emphasized.

The President added: "It is as if we built a house, painted the walls, installed the windows, but there is no foundation. Our Church is a spiritual foundation of the Ukrainian state".

"That is why it is so important for me and for every Ukrainian, because it is a process of state building," Petro Poroshenko said.