The visit to Greece attests that the OCU is equal to other Local Sister Churches, - Metropolitan Epifaniy

"I am returning to Ukraine, my home, filled with the feeling of deep gratitude, fraternal unity, spiritual elevation and true Christian love, which I experienced aplenty in these few days during my first official visit to Greece as Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The invitation to visit the blessed land of ancient Hellas came at the beginning of March, in terrible and dark times for Kyiv and all of Ukraine, when our cities were mercilessly destroyed by the Russian invaders. I read this invitation to the sound of sirens warning of the danger of bombing. Yet, in this invitation, I saw a symbol of God's blessing and a sign that we are not alone in this war. And although in those spring days, we did not know what could happen to us next, the sign of brotherly love in Christ from our Sister Churches deeply touched my heart and nurtured my hope. And those hopes came true: with God's help, thanks to our Armed Forces and the actions of the Ukrainian people, this visit became possible.

This visit showed that while our northern neighbors, who received the light of baptism from Kyiv and heard the preaching of the Gospel, are attacking us with bombs and missiles, the people of geographically distant Greece show us true brotherly love. They share our pain and sorrows, they pray for Ukraine, provide spiritual and material support to victims of Russian aggression, and care about forced refugees. And we are deeply grateful for that.

This visit once again confirmed that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is equal to other Local Sister Churches and has the blessing of the Mother Church. Our joint visit to holy historical places, joint prayers and union in the Sacrament of the Eucharist with His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos, Metropolitan of Philippi, Naples and Thassos Stephanos, numerous hierarchs and clergy confirm this. Glory to God for all things!" Reads the post of Metropolitan Epifaniy.