Famous Ukrainians have addressed Patriarch Bartholomew in an open letter and called on to postpone his visit to Ukraine on Independence Day, according to the Information Center of the UOC.
The letter was signed by Orthodox figures of science, culture and sports, including Academician of the Academy of Economic Sciences of Ukraine Anatoly Peshko, Academician of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine Vitaliy Zhuravsky, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Petr Tolochko, musician and producer Oleg Karamazov, Honored Doctor of Ukraine Rostislav Valikhnovsky, President of Media holding “Novosti” Yegor Benkendorf, TV producer Yuri Molchanov and others.
Orthodox Ukrainians turned to the Patriarch of Constantinople with a request to reconsider their decision to visit Ukraine due to the aggravation of religious confrontation in connection with the recognition of the OCU.
“We state with sadness that not one of the official representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will take part in those solemn events in honor of the Independence Day of Ukraine on August 24, at which Your Holiness is expected to attend. Should you reconsider your plans? After all, firstly, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, religious organizations in our country are separated from the state, and secondly, there are quite reasonable expectations that your visit to celebrate the Day of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine may aggravate the religious situation, “the Orthodox scientists called , culture and sports.
The authors of the letter emphasized that with the provision of the Tomos for the OCU on January 6, 2019, “the balanced and historically justified official position of Patriarch Bartholomew has changed – he signed the Tomos, which was intended to grant autocephaly to Ukrainian Orthodox Christians, but in fact became the reason for the seizure of Orthodox churches by representatives of radical organizations , the beating of priests and believers with impunity. ”
“Most of these cases (raider seizures of churches of the UOC – ed.) Were recorded at the level of the UN, OSCE and other international organizations. Your Holiness is well aware of this, but, unfortunately, they did not condemn any of these cases, nor this shameful tendency in general. It’s time to do this, because de jure it was you who took personal responsibility for the treatment of the schism in Ukrainian Orthodoxy, which de facto could not be cured, but on the contrary led to civil conflicts, ”the letter says.
Well-known Ukrainians stated that the granting of the Tomos took place without taking into account the position and against the will of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – the autonomous and only Ukrainian one, canonically recognized by all the Orthodox Churches of the world.
The letter notes that most of the Local Orthodox Churches and monasteries of Athos are in no hurry to recognize the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
“Isn’t it time for you to stop on the path of escalating church confrontation in Ukraine and in the world, and postpone your visit to a more favorable time, to the Council resolution of all disagreements, with the fullness of world Orthodoxy?” Called the famous Ukrainians – believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.