President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko congratulated Ukrainians on today's decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and informed that the Synod had approved the text of the Tomos on granting independence to the Ukrainian Church.
According to the President, the Synod has also approved the decision to convene a unifying Orthodox Council was made. The date of its holding will soon be announced by Patriarch Bartholomew. The participants of the Council will elect the primate of the independent Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. And he will be given the Tomos of autocephaly.
“Fellow Ukrainians, today, at the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, historic decisions were made on the creation of the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” the President said.
“The Tomos is a charter of our spiritual independence. The Ukrainian Church is one of the fifteen independent Orthodox churches, which form the Ecumenical Orthodoxy,” Petro Poroshenko added.