President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, congratulated Ukrainians with today’s decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and said that the Synod also approved the text of the Tomos on the provision of independence to the Ukrainian Church, the official website reports.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, congratulated Ukrainians with today’s decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and said that the Synod also approved the text of the Tomos on the provision of independence to the Ukrainian Church, the official website reports.
The Head of State has also said that the Synod adopted the decision to convene the Unification Orthodox Council, the date of which will soon be announced by Patriarch Bartholomew, and the members of the Council will elect the head of the independent Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and he will be given the Tomos of autocephaly.
"Dear Ukrainians, today, at the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, historic decisions were adopted to establish the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” said the President.
“The Tomos is a certificate of our spiritual independence. The Ukrainian Church is one of the fifteen independent Orthodox churches, of which the Ecumenical Orthodoxy is formed,” added Petro Poroshenko.
“Moscow as a state and the Russian church, FSB officers and clerics, either in uniform or wearing cassocks, crucifixes and stripes - they were not afraid of any sin going at length to disrupt this decision.
But the Lord stayed with us as we are conducting a righteous fight for our independence, and the Tomos is a historic event on this path,” said the President.