The Administrator of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Archbishop Antonii (Pakanych) of Boryspil on 1 October visited the Director of the Board for Development of Democracy of the Council of Europe, Snizhana Samaradych-Markovych in Strasburg.
The meeting was also attended by a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Council of Europe, Hegumen Filip (Riabykh) and the head of the administration of the Kyiv Metropolitanate, Protopriest Volodymyr Kotsaba.
According to the official website of UOC-MP, Archbishop Antonii expressed his support for the development of the dialogue between the Council of Europe and the traditional religious communities of the continent. According to him, this communication is necessary to develop a model of peaceful coexistence of representatives of various religious worldviews and non-religious views within one society.
Samaradych-Markovych stressed that her agency of the Council of Europe should pay attention to the voice of various social groups and give them opportunities to participate in the development of solutions regarding the life of European societies.
The parties agreed to develop cooperation. In the end of the meeting, Archbishop Antonii presented an embroidered icon to the official.
The administrator of UOC-MP is visiting France on the invitation of the Parish of All Saints. The program of the visit includes a meeting with the Orthodox believers, celebration of services, several meetings with high-ranking officials of the Council of Europe as well as a visit to the Representative Office of Ukraine in the Council of Europe.