Primate of the OCU and a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch discussed the August visit of Patriarch Bartholomew I

The meeting was also attended by Archbishop Yevstratiy, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations, the official website of the OCU reports.

Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and all Ukraine thanked Bishop Emmanuel for concelebrating the liturgy and asked him to convey his sincere gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew for the warm greeting read out after the service.

"We, The Church and the Ukrainian people look forward to the visit of His Holiness next month, which he also mentioned in his letter. This is confirmed by opinion polls," Metropolitan Epiphanius stressed. "The patriarch correctly noted that it is the duty of a mother to show love to all her children, regardless of how they feel about her. Both the Ukrainian Church and the Russian Church are daughters of the Mother Church of Constantinople. And although the Moscow Patriarchate publicly expresses dissatisfaction with the upcoming visit, in fact, we know from opinion polls that even among the followers of the MP, those who have a negative attitude to the visit are a significant minority," the head of the OCU said.

Metropolitan Emmanuel once again conveyed greetings and warm fraternal wishes from the Ecumenical Patriarch to Metropolitan Epiphanius and the entire Orthodox Church of Ukraine on the occasion of the holiday.

"His Holiness The Patriarch will arrive in Ukraine in the spirit of love, pastoral care and peace at the invitation of the local church and the Ukrainian state to celebrate together in church and state events a significant event for the Ukrainian people – 30 years of Independence. Together with your beatitude and representatives of the Ukrainian state, we are working on preparing the visit and I am convinced that it will be successful," Metropolitan Emmanuel said.