The church is part of civil society, it cannot be part of the state mechanism. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the UGCC, said in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, talking about the Church's coexistence with the authorities, the role and mission of the Church in society.
“We absolutely do not share the idea of the so-called state church. Today's stage in the development of our social doctrine says: The church should not be part of the state mechanism. Why? Because then the Church loses her freedom.”
What should be the place of the Church in society? What is the role and mission of the UGCC?
"We see ourselves as part of civil society," says His Beatitude Sviatoslav. – “In particular, if we talk about the place of the Church community, it was once defined by Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical. It outlines a model of the ideal relationship between society, government, and business. The Pope says that in order for the state to have healthy relations, there must be a triangle: society - power - business. If society falls apart and the state and business start building relations without taking into account the interests of society, then it ends in corruption, in a merger of big business and state institutions. We, as the Church, see this as a great risk to the post-Soviet reality. That is why the place of the Church in this triangle is not with business, not with power, but with the people. That is, the Church is part of civil society."
The Head of the UGCC stressed that in dialogue with state institutions of Ukraine and with international partners, the Church is the voice of the nation and civil society.
"We have seen that when the authorities do not want to hear the voice of the Church, which is the voice of the nation, the situation becomes explosive. It was just on the eve of the Maidan. And we all understood that it was very dangerous."