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President Petro Poroshenko took part in the divine service in the
Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the Orthodox Church of
Ukraine in Ternopil.
During the conversation with the attendees in the church, the Head of
State stressed that December 15 will be forever inscribed in the
history of independent Ukraine, because on this day the Autocephalous
Orthodox Church of Ukraine was born.
"This happened because we believed that the Lord would send us an
independent church," Petro Poroshenko once again emphasized. The
President also noted the role of His Holiness Filaret in this process
and thanked for his "sacrifice and greatness of spirit for the cause of
the church and the state". He also thanked the Primate of the Ukrainian
Autocephalous Church His Beatitude Bishop Macarius.
The Head of State noted the fact that this Sunday "during the first
service at the Fener in the Ecumenical Patriarchate the newly elected
Primate and the Ukrainian Church were mentioned for the first time".
"And today, on the website of the Vatican, there was a message that
Ukraine created a church and elected the Primate. And this will
definitely be spread now," he said.
Petro Poroshenko stressed that the newly elected Primate of the
Orthodox Church of Ukraine stands at the position of love for each of
the believers. "It is very important to hear the words from the new
Primate: "We go to all Ukrainians with love, with an open heart. Because
our goal is unity. And we have no doubt that every Ukrainian will come
because it is a very simple choice. This is not a choice between
patriarchates - it's a choice between Ukraine and Russia," the President
noted.
His Holiness Filaret, in turn, urged the attendees to thank God for
his blessings for Ukraine. “We have achieved the establishment of the
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. This act has an epochal
significance,” he said.
“And this is due to the determination of Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew. He showed great courage recognizing the Ukrainian church
autocephalous. The President has even greater merit. I say this as
Patriarch, because I know how this process happened," he said.
"Therefore, Petro Oleksiyovych, we sincerely thank you for taking
this cross, bringing it to the place where we gained victory," Filaret
emphasized and also thanked everyone who joined the process of
unification.
"Due to the creation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church,
we laid a solid foundation for our Ukrainian state. This means that the
Ukrainian state will be preserved, because as we sing in the Anthem - we
will give our souls and bodies for our freedom. We want to live in
freedom, democratically, to serve our people,” His Holiness Filaret
noted.
