Bishop Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyy of UOC-MP Positively Describes PACE’s Resolution

STRASBOURG-KYIV – Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) Bishop Оleksandr (Drabynko) of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi greeted the head of the Ukrainian parliament delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Mr. Ivan Popesku on his election as vice president of PACE. At the same time Bishop Оleksandr positively evaluated the desire of PACE to adopt the resolution on the Holodomor in the USSR, reports the website of UOC-MP.

"The Ukrainian Orthodox Church always called to not politicize this issue.  Just recall the address by the UOC Holy Synod of November 2008. The church has called and continues to call for the common prayer for the repose of the souls of the innocent victims of the famine.  We hope that the adoption of such a resolution, its support by the countries of the former Soviet Union who suffered from hunger – Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, amongst others, the stance of the president of Ukraine that he voiced in Strasbourg, the stance on this issue of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow that he expounded during his visit to Ukraine, will depoliticize this issue and open a way to the common prayerful and social commemoration of the victims of this great tragedy of the 20th century," Bishop Оlexandr noted.