Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine expressed gratitude to the National Bank of Ukraine for enshrining the memory of the historical event of the life of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with a recent coin minting. The first hierarch said this during a meeting with the Chairman of the NBU Yakiv Smoliy on April 8, the official site of the OCU says.

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the visit, I am glad to meet you and I would also like to thank you for the commemoration of the historic event - the granting of the Synodal and Patriarchal Tomos,” the Metropolitan said.

The parties discussed the importance of this document for Ukraine, which officially approves the canonical autocephalous status of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as one of the 15 local Orthodox Churches.

“On March 25 this year, the National Bank released into circulation three commemorative coins on the occasion of the provision of the Tomos of autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. They were produced by the Ukrainian Mint. They continue the series “Spiritual Treasures of Ukraine”, which was founded in 1996 and marks the events and figures that are significant for the Ukrainian society. As of today, this series already has 25 commemorative coins,” said Yakiv Smoliy. He added that in the summer the National Bank intends to release another such commemorative coin – a silver coin decorated with gold, weighing 500 grams.

During the meeting, Mr. Smoliy told Metropolitan Epifaniy about the work of the NBU and presented a commemorative coin “St. Andrew's Church”.

Head of the OCU also handed over to Yakiv Smoliy a diploma with honors and gift publications.