On January 30, 2018, at the premises of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey, the President of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) Eugene Czolij met with Patriarch Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople - New Rome, the UWC reported.
The UWC President has presented and submitted the Resolution of the Annual General Meeting of the UWC in 2017, which continues to urge the Ecumenical Patriarch to issue Tomos about the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate. Eugene Czolij also acquainted the Ecumenical Patriarch with the current European integration processes in Ukraine and emphasized the danger of the hybrid war of the Russian Federation both for Ukraine and for peace and stability in the world.
The meeting was also attended by: Vice-President of the Conference of European Churches, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France; Bishop Hilarion of Edmonton and the Western Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada; Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Archimandrite Joachim Billis; Maxim Vdovychenko, Consul of Ukraine in Istanbul, and Director of the UWC Delegation in Ukraine Serhiy Kasyanchuk.
The UWC President also participated in the Divine Liturgy remembering the Three Saints at the Patriarchal Council of St. George. He attended the reception together with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church.
“The Ukrainian World Congress calls on the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and to issue Tomos of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate,” said Eugene Czolij, the UWC President.
Previously Eugene Czolij visited Rome to further Ukrainian interests among representatives of the Holy See and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy.
On 29 January 2018, the UWC President met with Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches Archbishop Cyril Vasil’ and Director of the Department on Eastern Europe of the Holy See Visvaldas Kulbokas. Eugene Czolij specifically presented the Resolution of the 2017 UWC Annual General Meeting which continues to call for the recognition of the Patriarchal status of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and discussed issues surrounding Euro-integrational processes in Ukraine and the destructive consequences of the hybrid war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.