Patriarchate of Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate received letter from the presidential administration

The letter is an official response to the Open Letter of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) of December 13, 2010. The text of the letter was published by the press service of the UOC-KP.  

The letter to the UOC-KP, signed by the deputy head of the presidential administration, O. Rafalskyi, says: "In view of your address to the head of the state regarding certain tendencies of the church-state relations in Ukraine and questions related to the activity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate, please be advised that appropriate central and local bodies of the executive power have been instructed to take necessary steps to regulate them."

The Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate on December 13 called Viktor Yanukovych in an open letter to give the long-awaited response to the numerous addresses of the Kyivan Patriarchate and to facilitate revision by the state of its position on matters of relations with religious organizations in order for the state to be governed in all its actions by the legislative principle of equality of all denominations without singling out only one of them.  

They also reminded Yanukovych that lobbying only one denomination poses a threat of mass confrontations as Ukraine is a multidenominational state.

According to the bishops, it is the authorities who should care about it and work to develop interdenominational understanding instead of aggravating the situation.

The synod of the UOC-KP defined the following steps to be realized by the authorities in this regard:

— to give the long-awaited response to the numerous addresses of the Kyivan Patriarchate regarding proposals to further develop church-state relations;

— to conduct the long-awaited meeting with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations;

— to stop open lobbying the UOC-MP and the practice of meeting only with the clergy and hierarchs of that church;

— not to decrease the role of the body which is in charge of the church-state relations but to increase its role and elevate it to the level of direct subordination to the President and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine;

— to control the attempts to introduce unacceptable fundamental alterations to the Law of Ukraine on the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations, which is recognized to be one of the best among of its kind in the world;

— to promote the adoption of the "Concept of Church-State Relations," which was developed in 2004 by joint efforts of the main denominations and experts and was repeatedly supported by the Council of Churches;

— to control the innovations of the Tax Code, especially with regard to religious organizations.