Heads of UGCC and Kyivan Patriarchate Discuss Cooperation

On 18 May, at the residence of the Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Patriarch Filaret, his meeting with the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Sviatoslav was held. Patriarch Sviatoslav was accompanied by the Secretary of the Synod of UGCC, Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh.

According to the press-service of UOC-KP, Patriarch Sviatoslav thanked Patriarch Filaret for attending the enthronement of the new head of UGCC at the Cathedral of Resurrection. To remember the event by, he presented to the head of UOC-KP a copy of the Icon of the Mother of God from the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Holy Sophia in Rome and a video of the enthronement service.    

The hierarchs discussed a wide spectrum of questions regarding the cooperation between the Kyivan Patriarchate and UGCC, including social morality, social ministry, state-Church relations, patriotic education, freedom of worship, etc. Patriarch Sviatoslav noted that he intends to develop the achievements of his predecessor, Cardinal Lubomyr (Husar) regarding these questions.

The participants of the meeting expressed concern over the increase of the social confrontation and political extremism. They stressed the need to jointly defend the state sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and civil accord in Ukraine.

The primates discussed specific lines of development of further cooperation  regarding the bilateral and multilateral interaction.

Patriarch Filaret presented to the head of UGCC translation of the Apostolic Fathers and other books published by the Kyivan Patriarchate.