Archbishop Daniel of the Pamphylia in the United
States, exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine, assured
that, together with Bishop Hilarion of Edmonton in Canada, arrived in
Kyiv to take further steps towards the unification of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church.
He
stated this during a meeting with President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv,
the correspondent of Ukrinform reports.
"We
came here (in Kyiv - ed.) Not to divide the Ukrainian Orthodoxy, but
rather take further steps in order to bring to all the desirable
unity for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We are ready for close
cooperation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate, of
course, but we are ready for dialogue and good cooperation with the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox
Church, as well as with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox
Church,”, the Archbishop Daniel said.
He
also assured that, together with Bishop Hilarion, there are no
"preoccupations" to meet with representatives of various
religious organizations, to hear their opinion and constructively
cooperate with them.
In
addition, the archbishop added that meetings are planned also with
representatives of the authorities.
"We
have a lot of work ahead of us. We will begin our mission as soon as
possible, and already arranged several meetings with various
representatives of religious organizations in Ukraine have started,"
added the Archbishop Daniel.
As
reported, President Petro Poroshenko said on April 17 that he had
prepared an appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch asking for a Tomos to
give an autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. On April 19,
the the Ukrainian Parliament supported this appeal.
Later,
Poroshenko said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate began the necessary
procedures to provide autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
On
September 2, at the Bishops' Council in Constantinople, the bishops
decided that the Ecumenical Patriarchate could provide autocephaly
without any negotiation.
On
September 7, the Ecumenical Patriarch appointed two exarchs to
Ukraine in the framework of preparation for the granting of
autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The
Russian Orthodox Church is opposed to the granting of autocephaly to
the Ukrainian Church.
Photo: Presidential website