Rep of Russian Church Can See Good Changes in Ukraine Under Rule of Yanukovych

“We have seen good changes in the life of the Ukrainian state since Viktor Yanukovych came to power. And the president took the right position by not flirting with any and every religious denominations including schismatics, but made it clear from the beginning that he is a faithful son of the canonical church. It was a bold and right decisio, ” Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeiev) of Volokolamsk said in an interview to Komsomolskaia Pravda newspaper according to a report of the Russian Line.

The head of the External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeiev) of Volokolamsk, commented on the religious situation in Ukraine after the replacement of the “orange” regime by Viktor Yanukovych.  

Metropolitan Ilarion identified the schism as the main problem of religious life in Ukraine. “Overcoming the schism is a difficult task which cannot be fulfilled with the help of the state authorities or by any forced measures. People who are part of the schism must finally realize the canonical anomaly of their position in which many of them were put against their will or found themselves there without understanding it. For a schism is falling away from the church, no matter what excuses are used by the initiators of the schism,” said the metropolitan.