KYIV, 25 Jul 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said that the unification of Orthodox churches in his country is possible only on a canonical basis.
He spoke in a meeting with a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church which is attending the international conference "Orthodoxy and Public Life: Reviving Traditions of the Church's Social Service". The delegation told Kuchma about the status of negotiations between the Moscow and Constantinople patriarchates. Representatives of Ukrainian non-canonical religious associations, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, attended the last phase of talks as observers, the head of the external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Father Nikolai (Balashov), told Itar-Tass.
They presented the Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church to Kuchma. This document, adopted in 2000, not only sets forth the official position of the Moscow Patriarchate with regard to relations with the state and secular authorities, but is called upon to become an authoritative practical guidebook for the clergy and believers. Mikhail Melnik and Lyudmila Gordeyeva, Itar-Tass