260 Clergymen in Ukraine Are Deputies

Two hundred and sixty representatives of the clergy in Ukraine are deputies of various levels. This information was made public at the National Conference “The Regional Dimension of Interconfessional and State-Church Relations” held on November 25 in the Khmelnytskyi University of Management and Law.

Volodymyr Haiuk, the head of the Department of Relations with Religious Organizations of the State Committee of Ukraine on Nationalities and Religions, noted that the Khmelnytskyi Oblast has the second most number, after the Kyiv Oblast, of clergymen who are deputies of councils of various levels.  Fourty-seven priests, bishops, and pastors are deputies. All in all, in Ukraine, there are 260 of them, reported www.ye.ua.

The participants of the event were astonished by thе number and noted that the faithful of all churches always coexisted peacefully and tolerantly. Problems and feuds arose when politics represented by specific persons or events interfered in the religion. Haiku mentioned as an example of the lack of tolerance in relation to church matters the situation of the Kyiv Cave Monastery, which cannot be peacefully “divided” between religious institutions. As for the situation in the Khmelnystkyi Oblast, the participants noted that throughout history people not only of various nationalities but also of different religions peacefully coexisted on this territory. Despite this diversity, the religious and interethnic situation in the region remains quiet, stable, and predictable.

. Проблеми і чвари розпочиналися тоді, коли у релігію втручалася політика в особі конкретних людей або подій. Як приклад браку толерантності у вирішенні церковних справ Володимир Гаюк назвав ситуацію, що склалася навколо Києво-Печерської лаври, яку не можуть мирно «поділити» м