ROC: Poroshenko lost with his "unifying" Cathedral
On December 15, 2018, a “unifying” cathedral was held in Kiev, as a result of which the non-canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PCU) appeared. On December 22, 2018, commenting on the creation of a new church and religious structure in Ukraine, Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (Alfeyev).
According to Hilarion, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko lost according to the results of the "unifying" Cathedral in Kiev. Indeed, the majority of Ukrainian Orthodox believers and bishops did not participate in this gathering and did not approve of it. The metropolitan detailed his vision of the situation in the program “Church and Peace” (TV channel “Russia 24”).
The DECR chairman believes that the Ukrainian authorities, instead of uniting the church in Ukraine, “but it could be done,” achieved the opposite result. Now in Ukraine there will be two structures: “one legitimate and one illegitimate, one recognized in the Orthodox world, the other not recognized.” Hilarion does not trust the words of Poroshenko, who says that believers will not be forcibly driven into a new structure.
He added that in Ukraine only splitters were able to unite. However, they could not connect the schismatics with the canonical church. If the schismatics returned to the canonical church through repentance, then this would have been possible, but apparently the Ukrainian authorities had other plans. It should be noted that earlier we Reported about the reaction to religious events in Kiev from neighboring Belarus, and also cited interesting opinion from the territory of Ukraine itself.
According to Hilarion, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko lost according to the results of the "unifying" Cathedral in Kiev. Indeed, the majority of Ukrainian Orthodox believers and bishops did not participate in this gathering and did not approve of it. The metropolitan detailed his vision of the situation in the program “Church and Peace” (TV channel “Russia 24”).
The DECR chairman believes that the Ukrainian authorities, instead of uniting the church in Ukraine, “but it could be done,” achieved the opposite result. Now in Ukraine there will be two structures: “one legitimate and one illegitimate, one recognized in the Orthodox world, the other not recognized.” Hilarion does not trust the words of Poroshenko, who says that believers will not be forcibly driven into a new structure.
He added that in Ukraine only splitters were able to unite. However, they could not connect the schismatics with the canonical church. If the schismatics returned to the canonical church through repentance, then this would have been possible, but apparently the Ukrainian authorities had other plans. It should be noted that earlier we Reported about the reaction to religious events in Kiev from neighboring Belarus, and also cited interesting opinion from the territory of Ukraine itself.
Information