By Kostas Onisenko
On June 28, Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine attended the flag-raising ceremony in front of the building of the Ukrainian Parliament as part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Ukrainian Constitution.
The Metropolitan then visited the festive sitting of Parliament. The event was opened by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Razumkov, while the honorary guard entered holding the Constitution of Ukraine accompanied by “Prayer for Ukraine.”
In the message posted by the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on social media, he spoke about the importance of this document, which is the Constitution, for Ukrainians.
A quarter of a century ago, the Ukrainian people adopted their own Constitution of the newly established Ukrainian State. It was literally a decisive document for our destiny, he said, which confirmed the eternal effort of the people to live in an independent, single, united, democratic country. (…)
“Realizing the responsibility in the eyes of God, before our own conscience, past, present and future generations”: these words from the preamble of the fundamental law are significant.
Despite centuries of persecution and controversy over religious issues, these words reassure the deep religious sentiment of the Ukrainian people, which, I am sure, is a good and resilient basis for the development of the modern state,” he said.
His advice to the Ukrainian people was that they should be aware of not only the freedoms but also the responsibilities of the Constitution.
“Ukraine is now experiencing perhaps the most difficult times of an ordeal through the war.
That is why now more than ever we need the unity, consistency and justice of the Law.
We respect the rights and freedoms given to us by the Lord and guaranteed by the Constitution.
But we also do not forget the obligations and the responsibility for everything we do,” concluded Metropolitan Epifaniy in his message.