President Viktor Yanukovych intends to meet with representatives of all the religious denominations on the eve of Easter, on 21 April. The president stated as he answered questions of journalists in Pavlohrad.
The Kyivan Patriarchate positively evaluated the intention of the president.
“Since the inauguration of Viktor Fedorovych, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations has approached him with a proposal to hold such a meeting – it is good that the wills of the denominations and the head of the state finally coincided. Until now, the denominations, experts and society have felt tension due to the fact that the president met only with representatives of one denomination, the Moscow Patriarchate. We hope that the tension will be relieved and the thoughts shared by Viktor Yanukovych in Pavlohrad will be realized,” reports the press service of the Kyivan Patriarchate.
Talking about church-state relations, the president said in Pavlohrad: “The role of the state is not to interfere in the affairs of the church… At the same time, we should provide equal conditions of development for all the denominations. The state policy will always promote this.”