Saturday, April 09, 2011

President to meet leading clerics of all churches

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is going to meet representatives of all Ukrainian confessions on Maundy Thursday.

The president made this statement on April 5, during his visit to Dnipropetrovsk oblast.

The details are unknown, but there’s no doubt that this meeting is brewing. Yanukovych has been repeatedly criticized for his preference for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate. 

The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Institutions, the Lviv and Ternopil oblast councils, and various confessions have expressed their dissatisfaction with this situation as well. 

 Den has written about numerous cases of political pressure on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church (see Den No. 231, December 16, 2010; No. 2, January 12, 2011).

If this meeting takes place, it will be the first one during Yanukovych’s whole presidential term – over a year now. 

The religious confessions have accumulated a lot of questions to ask the president, and it is no secret that the tone of the relations between the church and state depends on him.  

The Day hopes that the peace among the Ukrainian confessions, firmly established under the previous president, will endure. 

Furthermore, the pro-blem of the schism in Ukrainian orthodoxy hasn’t been resolved and, quite the contrary, has been stoked in recent times. 

Thus, we believe that the president’s statement that “all the churches are native and equal” will come true.
 
Rev. Ihor YATSIV, press secretary of His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), head of the UGCC Information Department: “The Presidential Administration has been regularly explaining that they are preparing this meeting. Why have they been explaining it? Because the Ukrainian Church Council has repeatedly addressed the president, expressing its desire and need to meet with him. The council comprises Christians of various denominations, as well Jews, and Muslims, covering about 90 percent of the Ukrainian population. Obviously, such an important social institution can’t be ignored. Especially that under the previous presidents such meetings were regular, and discussed the relations between the church and state and planned solutions of certain issues. Moreover, the previous prime minister also held such meetings and discussed public support for the churches.

“Hence, it will be our first meeting during Yanukovych’s presidential term, so it’s very important to know the representatives of the Ukrainian Church Council better. For example, His Beatitude Liubomyr (Huzar) hasn’t had a possibility to meet the president as yet. I’m not talking about a confidential meeting; they haven’t met even within a wider circle. The president has visited only one denomination so far and showed his unequal attitude to Christian churches and religions.”
 
Bishop Yevstratii ZORIA, spokesman of the UOC KP: “It’s good that the Ukrainian Church Council and the president want the same thing. This meeting has been discussed for a long time, since the beginning of Viktor Yanukovych’s presidential term. Obviously, his exclusive attention to the UOC MP has provoked nervousness and negative comments. We hope that by gathering all of us Viktor Yanukovych will turn this page over and will give a start to constructive cooperation between the government and the Ukrainian churches and religious institutions — one that is based on the equality determined by law.

“One of the key points of the meeting is the reform of the Ukrainian legislation concerning religious freedom. As far as I know, only the UOC MP thinks that a new version is necessary. 

We hope that the government will pay attention to the opinions expressed by different denominations and won’t make hasty decisions in order not to regret them later. It could lead to a dramatic degradation in relations between the confessions and aggravate the competition for cathedrals, which we all want to avoid. The current law has been recognized as one of the best not only in Europe, but all over the world. We strongly believe that we shouldn’t ruin what is good and has been worked out.”