UGCC Ready for Dialogue with Moscow Patriarchate
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) Sviatoslav Shevchuk is of the opinion that without a dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate, “it is impossible to stop the Russification of Ukraine and Ukrainophobia in Russia.” He said so last Sunday, at a press conference in Kolomyia in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast as he commented on Patriarch Kirill's visit to Poland.
“We also should follow such way of a certain reconciliation. Without this it is impossible to stop the Russification of Ukraine and Ukrainophobia in Russia. And if we try somehow to settle the painful questions of the past as Christians, in the light of the Gospel, and to heal our memory only by means of reconciliation, then we can build something constructive,” he noted.
The patriarch said that he is pleased with the fact that the process of reconciliation between the Russian and Polish nations has begun with the meeting between the Moscow Patriarch and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland.
“We could not hear what the Poles forgive the Russians and what the Orthodox Church intends to apologize to the Latin Church in Poland for. Perhaps, it will also be said some day. But a very powerful example or call to reconciliation has been made,” stressed the Primate.
The patriarch also positively evaluates the fact that Patriarch Kirill began to communicate “not only with the head of the whole Catholic Church but also with the head of the national church.”
“I would really like something similar to happen in Ukraine. Firstly, we would be very pleased to finally see the beginning of a personal dialogue at the level of the two churches. To see the Moscow Patriarch recognize the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as his interlocutor. For they have talked about us so far only with the Most Holy Father in the Vatican almost always without us,” noted the head of UGCC.
“We are waiting for a response from our prospective partners, and let Lord God help them and us in this regard,” concluded Patriarch Sviatoslav.
