“Ukraine’s local self-dependent autocephalous church is a question of identity, spiritual unity and resistance to any aggressive attacks, any stabs at demolishing our state,” – Andriy Parubiy, the Parliament’s speaker

While in Istanbul, the Chairman emphasized that the receipt of the Tomos and autocephaly for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine both go far beyond purely religious and clerical matters.

"It is also a question of security and defence," said the politician, turning to the fact that "in the early months of the Russian aggression, the invader used to employ churches of the Moscow Patriarchate as bases for its guerrilla groups".

“Regrettably, the very concept of the so-called "Russian World" has been flogged by the Kremlin's "upas pushers" through the agency of Church. And Ukraine’s local independent autocephalous church is therefore an issue of the national security.  It is a question of identity, spiritual unity and resistance to any aggressive attempts, any tries at strangling Ukraine," said the head of parliament.

According to A.Parubiy, it’s an epoch-making phenomenon that goes beyond merely a church moment: "330 years ago, when the Ukrainian church was annexed...not only the church was felt to have been pinched that time. It was an attempt to grab the history, the spirit of Ukraine, Ukraine’s antiquity.  And now, by restoring the Church of Ukraine, we are recapturing this spirit. And this question, I'm sure, has nowadays become an all-Ukrainian idea, the sentiments that unite all of Ukraine in its entirety".

The Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada A.Parubiy invited the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to visit Kyiv in the near future.

"I want to thank him for the great contribution he has made on the way of building the Church of Ukraine. And I do hope that we can soon expect his arrival in Ukraine," apprised Andriy Parubiy in conclusion.

 

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