Leaders of a number of public organizations of the Rivne Oblast approached Ukraine’s President, Viktor Yanukovych, with a request to prevent priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate from consecrating the events marking the 450th anniversary of the Peresopnytsia Gospel.
According to UNIAN, the address was signed by the leaders of the regional organizations of the Association Prosvita, National Association of Writers of Ukraine, regional Klym Savur Fraternity of Fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the community of the Congress of Ukrainian Intelligetsia of Rivne, regional organizations of the Union of Ukrainian Women, Society of Political Prisoners and Repressed Persons and others.
The authors of the address stress that “the Peresopnytsia Gospel is an eternal monument of Ukrainian spirituality, language, book and manuscript art, which puts the Ukrainian language at the same level as such languages as Latin, Greek and Church Slavonic (Old Bulgarian).”
“Unfortunately, to this day, the Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, contrary to the commandments of the Apostles, considers the living Ukrainian language as 'void of Divine Grace,' not fit for Divine Services and prefers the dead Church Slavonic language. This hurts the national and religious feelings of Christ’s brothers, Orthodox believers,” reads the address.
The leaders of the public organizations asked Yanukovych to assist them in ensuring that the objects, which have been built and restored to mark the anniversary, should be consecrated “according to the Orthodox rite with the participation of Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine, as his church continues the traditions of establishing the liturgical and, therefore, the state Ukrainian language, the traditions instituted by the Peresopnytsia Gospel.”