Patriarch Filaret: Ukraineian Nation Survived Only Thanks to Orthodox Faith

The Head of the Kyivan Patriarchate, Patriarch Filaret spoke at the All-Ukrainian scholarly conference Orthodoxy in Ukraine on 22 November at the Theological Academy in Kyiv. He expressed an opinion that the Ukrainian nation was not dissolved among other nations and  has preserved its originality and was able to create its own state only thanks to the Orthodox faith.  

“We should understand that it was the Orthodox Church that preserved the Ukrainian nation. It preserved it when we lost our independence.  Our language, culture and education were preserved thanks to the Orthodox Church. The Peresopnytsia Gospel, Ostrih Bible, Mohyla Academy,” the web site of UOC-KP quotes Patriarch Filaret as saying.

“One of the main objectives of the Cossacks, of whom Ukraine is duly proud and who constituted a glorious page of our history, was to preserve and protect the Orthodox Faith. Therefore, the Ukrainian nation is an Orthodox nation,” stressed the patriarch.