Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during a speech at St. Sofia Cathedral in Kyiv said that he was ready to listen to the UOC-MP and called on its clergy to reconsider their position.
“We invite in this sacred time and call from the bottom of our hearts the brothers in Christ, the hierarchs in this country, their clergy and believers who do not communicate with us in church, to reconsider their position and promote peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding of people and Orthodox Christians here, sharing with love their identity for reconciliation and the establishment of tolerance, tolerance, which we all need.
As the Mother Church, we are always ready to listen to problems, dispel doubts, heal worries, and heal traumas by the grace of God for all our children. However, within the framework of the sacred church tradition. We firmly believe that the mercy of our Savior Jesus Christ, as always, will extend generously over all of us and rejoice in the tangible and peaceful fruits of the Holy Spirit.
In conclusion, I wish your God-loving Beatitude, Metropolitan of Kyiv, and your Council of bishops, the hierarchs of the local church presence of the Moscow Patriarchate, the pious clergy and all the blessed people of Ukraine, without exceptions and restrictions, a blessing, [from] the tender maternal and caring love of the Mother Church,” said Patriarch Bartholomew.