RADA ENDORSES DRAFT OF APPEAL TO ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH FOR AUTOCEPHALY OF UKRAINIAN CHURCH
Lawmakers have asked Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to publish an ukase regarding the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and to rule as ineffective the act of 1686 whereby Moscow drew the Kiev patriarchate out from under the jurisdiction of Constantinople.
The Rada voted for the appeal to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I requesting the grant of autocephaly (independence) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The corresponding resolution No. 4793 was supported by 245 people's deputies.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine sent to the ecumenical patriarch the request:
--to recognize as ineffective the act of 1686 as such, which was taken in violation of the sacred canons of the Orthodox church;
--to take an active part in overcoming the consequences of the church division by means of convening an all-Ukrainian unification council, under the aegis of the ecumenical patriarchate, which would decide all disputed questions and unify Ukrainian Orthodoxy;
--to issue a Tomos regarding the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine for the sake of the welfare of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and the integrity of the Ukrainian people, on the basis of which it would be able to occupy a worthy place in the family of local Orthodox churches.
The initiators of the draft of the resolution were the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Andrei Paruby; the chairman of the Rada Committee on Issues of Culture and Spirituality, Nikolai Kniazhitsky, deputies Sergei Vysotsky, Andrei Levus, and Viktor Elensky (all of the People's Front fraction); and Maria Matios (Bloc of Petro Poroshenko). (tr. by PDS, posted 17 June 2016)
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