Poroshenko meets with Serbian Patriarch Irinej

04.07.2018, 10:22
During his official visit to Belgrade, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church

During his official visit to Belgrade, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church

Head of Ukrainian state called on Patriarch Irinej to pray for peace and emphasized his support for the territorial integrity of Serbia.

Petro Poroshenko expressed hope that the Serbian Orthodox Church, as one of the oldest churches in the Christian Orthodox world, would support Ukraine as it always did, the head of state said.

As RISU has reported, representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church adhere to the stance of the Moscow Patriarchate regarding autocephaly of unrecognized Orthodox Churches, including the Ukrainian one. Thus, on 10 May, the Bishops’ Council expressed its support and sympathy to “the Church Martyress of Ukraine, which is being brutally persecuted by the current regime in Kyiv.”

May 23, Patriarch Irinej, while in Moscow, spoke for the integrity of the Russian Church and once again voiced a favorite thesis of the clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church about the “persecuted” UOC (MP):

"Now the Church Martyress of Ukraine – where the Holy Prince Volodymyr baptized the people of the Holy Rus – is desecrated by the blasphemy of dissenters, by violence and bloodshed. The feat of hundreds of thousands of Serbs who stood for the Holy Orthodoxy until death is well known. Therefore, I do not think lots of words are required to explain the attitude of the Serbian Church towards the developments in Ukraine. We respond to this in the same manner as our ancestors might respond: the Serbian Church fully supports the unity and integrity of the Russian Orthodox Church and resolutely denounces the actions of the Uniates and the schismatics who tear the robe of Christ in the baptismal font, selling their people to the enemies of faith, their end will correspond to their deeds (2 Cor 11:15). Anyone who helps Ukrainian schismatics is not only is the enemy of the Church and the “Russian world”, but also of all Orthodox Slavonic peoples and the entire Orthodox world ... Let peace and consent in the truth come down on the Ukrainian soil, let the ancient and new temples be rebuilt and filled with the men of prayer, and the one and Holy Rus will continue with firmness and strength her mission to the benefit of the entire Christendom!”