ROC: Agreement of Poroshenko with Phanar violates Constitution of Ukraine

Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the ROC, Protopriest Nikolai Balashov

Representatives of secular authorities are not authorized to negotiate church organization issues in Ukraine. This was announced on November 3 by the deputy head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, Protopriest Nikolai Balashov, reports Interfax.

“It is strange, of course, that the Patriarch of Constantinople conducts a dialogue about the church structure in Ukraine not with those who are competent in such matters but with representatives of secular power. This is an obvious violation of the foundations of the constitutional order of the Ukrainian state,” explained the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.

He suggested that “Poroshenko’s desire to secure additional electoral resources outweighs all the norms of law.” "It is even more difficult to understand what motives the hierarchs of the Church of Constantinople are guided with," added the DECR deputy head.

In general, according to Protopriest Nikolai Balashov, the agreement signed in Istanbul confirms once again the intention of the parties to move towards the creation of a kind of new church in Ukraine, but “this has already been said many times before, so the significance of the event is just small.”

As the UOJ reported, the “Agreement on cooperation and interaction between Ukraine and the Ecumenical Constantinople Patriarchate” was signed by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew following the meeting in Istanbul on 3 November. The press service of the President reported that the agreement on cooperation between Ukraine and Constantinople is an agreement on the establishment of an independent Ukrainian Church. The text of the agreement is not published either by Kiev or by Constantinople.

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