November 3 2018 will be marked as a key date in the history of the independent Orthodox Church currently taking shape in Ukraine.
The director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Ukraine, Rostislav Pavlenko, commented about the Agreement of Cooperation between Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarchate signed today, ZIK has reported.
“In the history of the independent Orthodox Church emerging in Ukraine this day will be marked as one of the key days, equal in importance with the meeting between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and President Poroshenko on April 9 and the decision of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of October 11 to confirm the decision on autocephaly and return to the All-Orthodox communion of the non-Muscovite Ukrainian Orthodoxy,” Pavlenko writes.
He emphasized that President Poroshenko and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew "signed an agreement on the creation of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine, granting its Primate with the Tomos, Ukraine's state -- under the law-- and the Ecumenical Patriarchate -- in a canonical way -- contributing to its constitution and maintenance of ties with the Ecumenical Orthodoxy.”
Pavlenko also noted that for the establishment of constant communication and cooperation, the Representative Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Kyiv is established. This will be the Stavropegia, the establishment of which is provided for by the decision of the Synod of October 11, 2008. St. Andrew's Church, which is being transferred to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for use, will host the mission.
"One more step has been made to the receipt of the Tomos,” the director of the National Institute for Strategic Research under the President of Ukraine summarized.