KYIV. Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church addressed President of Ukraine and Government before heating season to restore justice regarding utility tariffs for religious communities
Dear Viktor Fedorovych!
It is with sadness and anxiety that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reported that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine abolished the decision to set up lower prices for paying utilities at the level of the tariffs for the population for religious organizations (Resolution of Cabinet of Ministers № 869 "On the uniform approach to tariffs for housing and utilities ", approved on June 1, 2011).
The new procedure for tariffs for utilities introduces two groups of consumers. The first group includes the economic entities and natural persons - entrepreneurs, the second group are the urban and rural population.
Our government equated religious organizations to enterprises, religious activities to business, and clergymen and believers, at whose cost the churches are kept to businessmen.
The church is a house of God, it is not a subject of economic or business activity. The religious community is a spiritual family, not a company. The religious community can engage and work, but this activity is not business-like, but primarily liturgical, educational, educational and charitable. It is from these activities the religious communities will now be forced to extract money owing to substantial rise of the public utility tariffs. Some parishes will have to refuse from the use of heating and electricity.
In this regard, we ask you, Dear Viktor Fedorovych, to pay attention to this problem and do all possible that the justice was restored before the heating season and religious communities paid for utilities according to public tariffs for households, not according to business tariffs.
Best regards and wishes of God's blessings for the good deeds
Volodymyr
Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine
Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
