Moscow, June 16, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate has sharply
criticized Verkhovnaya Rada deputies who have recently issued an address
to the Constantinople patriarch calling for recognition of the
independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Moscow.
"Instead of doing their direct job, which is to pass laws protecting the dignity of Ukrainians and strengthening public accord, the Rada has decided to become a self-proclaimed body in charge of administering inter-church relations," Vladimir Legoyda, the head of the Synodal Department for Church, Society and Media Relations, said in a statement quoted by his press service on Thursday.
On June 15, the Verkhovnaya Rada called on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to invalidate the act of 1686 according to which the Kiev metropolitan was allegedly "in violation of canons" attached to the Moscow Patriarchate.
Legoyda believes that by their decision Ukrainian legislators showed that "they are driven by a wish to make the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a pawn of big shortsighted policies and deprive it of its impartial peacemaking role that it plays in a situation of civil unrest, not by a wish to cure division and care for peace among the religious communities of this country."
"Instead of doing their direct job, which is to pass laws protecting the dignity of Ukrainians and strengthening public accord, the Rada has decided to become a self-proclaimed body in charge of administering inter-church relations," Vladimir Legoyda, the head of the Synodal Department for Church, Society and Media Relations, said in a statement quoted by his press service on Thursday.
On June 15, the Verkhovnaya Rada called on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to invalidate the act of 1686 according to which the Kiev metropolitan was allegedly "in violation of canons" attached to the Moscow Patriarchate.
Legoyda believes that by their decision Ukrainian legislators showed that "they are driven by a wish to make the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a pawn of big shortsighted policies and deprive it of its impartial peacemaking role that it plays in a situation of civil unrest, not by a wish to cure division and care for peace among the religious communities of this country."