U.S. Orthodox diaspora expresses concern over situation of Kyivan Patriarchate to Ukrainian president
At their annual meeting, Orthodox Ukrainians of the state of Connecticut resolved to address President Viktor Yanukovych with their concerns over the current situation of church-state relations in Ukraine and in particular over the situation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP).
“The essence of our concern has been expressed in His Beatitude Patriarch Filaret's statement that 'in Ukraine, attempts are being made to realize a large-scale plan to destroy the Kyivan Patriarchate.' Let us stress that the Kyivan Patriarchate is not only an internal Ukrainian factor. Parishes of the Kyivan Patriarchate have become the foundation of Ukrainian from America to Japan. Today, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate is the only Kyiv-based Orthodox structure caring for Ukrainians abroad. Unlike the Kyivan Patriarchate, the Moscow Patriarchate does not have and, according to its status, cannot have parishes abroad,” reads the letter of the Orthodox diaspora.
The letter stresses that the Kyivan Patriarchate in the United States is inseparable from the Kyivan Patriarchate in Ukraine; therefore, the opposition to the activity of the Kyivan Patriarchate directly concerns the interests of American citizens of Ukrainian descent.
The U.S. diaspora of the UOC-KP asks Yanukovych “to take necessary steps to normalize church-state relations, meet with the Holy Patriarch and explain the official position of the head of the Ukrainian state.”
“If the discrimination of the believers of the Kyivan Patriarchate is not stopped, we will have to seek protection from the government of the United States. The United States, as well as Ukraine, is a multiconfessional state. Each denomination in the United States has the right to exist. The national Orthodox diaspora communities struggle against the discrimination of the Orthodox Church in their countries of origin. But it is one thing when the Greek community struggles against the discrimination of the Constantinople Patriarchate in the Islamic state of Turkey, when Egyptians and Syrians complain about persecutions for Christ, and completely different when the believers of the Kyivan Patriarchate are discriminated against in the European Christian Ukraine. The Ukrainian diaspora has extensive experience in the struggle for a Ukrainian Ukraine, which was gained in the notorious Soviet times. Let us hope that we will not need it any more. We trust that the cooperation of the Ukrainian state with Ukrainians abroad will get onto the legal track like in many countries. Ukraine will learn to accept its diaspora as a powerful nation-creating and state-creating factor of development, an effective tool of political, economic, cultural and spiritual influence in foreign countries, an effective means of establishing a positive image of our state in the international community. We would like to work with Ukraine and for Ukraine,” reads the address, published by the press service of the Kyivan Patriarchate.
