Around 70 parishes of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate came over to the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine. This was reported by the president’s representative, people’s deputy of Petro Poroshenko Bloc Party Iryna Lutsenko during the meeting of Verkhovna Rada committee broadcasted by 112 Ukraine TV channel.
“About 70 parishes have already switched from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate to an autocephalous independent Ukrainian church. Which is why, Ukraine’s task is to preserve the inter-confessional world, and to provide the model that is most acceptable to a democratic society for such a transition of parishes to those that they want to visit,” Iryna Lutsenko said.
As it was reported earlier, on January 14, the activists of “Svoboda” political party along with head of the council of Vorsivka village, Malyn District of Zhytomyr region forcefully hindered the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) to hold the divine service event on the territory of the church.
The ceremony of signing of the Tomos took place on January 5, 2019 in Istanbul. On January 6, 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew handed the Tomos on autocephaly and bishops’ crosier to Head of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Epiphaniy. The same day, Tomos landed in Kyiv.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate published the text of Tomos on autocephaly of Orthodox Church of Ukraine on January 14. The document is available in English, Greek and Ukrainian languages.
SOURCE: 112.INTERNATIONAL
