MinCulture: Statements by UOC Synod contradict "Ukrainian traditions"

Ministry of Culture of Ukraine

The statements by the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church contradict Ukrainian traditions of tolerant dialogue, the Ukrainian Culture Ministry press service said in its release on the ministry’s official site on September 25.

"The categorical and intolerant statements by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), which contradict Ukrainian traditions, look like an attempt to artificially stir up a conflict, instead of peaceful dialogue, and condoning with the desperate attempts of the Russian aggressor to obstruct free formation of a single local Orthodox church in Ukraine," the ministry's press service said.

"Neither Ukrainian legislation nor the traditions of inter-church relations in Ukraine envisage the right of bodies of one Church to dictate their will to another Church or its representatives," the press release reads.

The ministry stressed that the European principle of interreligious relations based on the principles of religious pluralism will always work in Ukraine.

"The European principle of interreligious relations based on the principles of religious diversity will always work in Ukraine. Nobody [...] has the right to dictate their will to other structures or religious organizations in an open society, let alone be aggressive towards the activities of representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople – the Church, whose first hierarchs blessed the creation of the Kiev Metropolitanate and its branches, now known as the Russian Orthodox Church," the press service said.

According to earlier reports, the UOC Synod on Tuesday called on Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and withdraw his exarch from its canonical territory,

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