Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine Sign Agreement of Cooperation

On August 26, at the Synodal Hall of the Kyiv Metropolis an agreement on cooperation between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate and the State penitentiary service of Ukraine was signed.

The document was signed on behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine and on behalf of the Ukrainian State Penitentiary Service by its chairman, Lieutenant General Alexander Lisitskov.

Before the act of signing the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church  addressed the audience.

"This agreement is important for it concerns the problems of our society, which we have to solve together. I think that today's meeting has put an even greater emphasis on the importance and responsibility of this challenging ministry. May the Lord help us to do good to people", he said.

At the end the sides exchanged gifts.

It should be noted that today the renewed agreement was signed, for the previous one was signed 10 years ago with the former State Department of Corrections. The new agreement is to enhance cooperation between the Church and the Penitentiary Service of Ukraine and state the priorities of cooperation. The new agreement meets the realities of today and aims to help  the priests who perform pastoral ministry in prisons, to work productively for the sake of spiritual benefit. So reported the web site of UOC.