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Ukrainian church says its clerical life should not be debated on secular platforms

Pressing issues relating to church life should be discussed at religious rather than secular platforms, says the chairman of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Synodal Information Department

MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. Pressing issues relating to church life should be discussed at religious rather than secular platforms, Archbishop Clement, Chairman of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Synodal Information Department, told TASS on Wednesday. His remarks came in the wake of Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko’s refusal to meet with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s bishops in Kiev Pechersk Lavra (the Kiev Monastery of the Caves) on November 13.

"The meeting was set to be held at the initiative of Pyotr Alexeyevich [Poroshenko] himself, so we invited him to Kiev Pechersk Lavra. It is difficult for me to comment on why he refused to come there. He had been to that monastery on numerous occasions, prayed and received a blessing from the priests. <…> If Pyotr Alexeyevich wants to join this discussion, then we are open to dialogue. However, no one intends to shift the emphasis and transfer the discussion of church issues to a secular platform, since this is not only contrary to church canons, this also contravenes Ukraine’s Constitution," he said.

His Eminence Clement suggested that the head of state’s remarks who said that he had been waiting for the church representatives in the Ukrainian House were nothing but a concocted excuse. The archbishop believes that could have been done "not to meet with the bishops and not to hear those inquiries, which the bishops wanted to ask the president in light of his latest statements."

Commenting on media reports regarding the possible decision by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to grant the Tomos of Autocephaly directly to the primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Onufry, he stressed that the Holy Synod had given a proper assessment to the Phanar’s actions.

"Yesterday, our church expressed its absolutely clear opinion about the Constantinople Patriarchate’s initiatives to change the canonical status of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Our Church condemned Constantinople’s expansion and attempts to take away the canonical territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Such actions are non-canonical and have some ramifications, which are related to both breaking off full communion and seeing the Patriarchate of Constantinople as a schismatic organization," he elaborated.

The meeting between the bishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the head of state was initiated by Pyotr Poroshenko and was scheduled to be held on November 13. The Ukrainian Church suggested that the meeting take place in Kiev Pechersk Lavra. However, the president did not show up, and the meeting was cancelled. Later on, media reports said that Poroshenko held an informal meeting with the Ukrainian Church’s clergy in the Ukrainian House. Only three of the 89 bishops agreed to attend it.