Ten local churches came to congretulate Metropolitan Onufrii and Ukrainian Orthodox Church
On 25, June, 2019 the representatives of 10 Local Churches came to Kyiv to congratulate Metropolitan Onufriy of Kiev and All Ukraine on his 75th birthday and 5th anniversary since enthronement day and to support the canonic Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
On memory day of the blessed Onufriy the Great Metropolitan Onufriy and representatives of Local Churches made the night service and Divine Liturgy at Kyiv Pechersk Laura. Metropolitan the Carthaginian Meletii (Alexandria Church), Metropolitan the Vostrskyi Timofei (Jerusalem Church), Metropolitan the Lovchanskyi Havriil (Bulgarian Church), Metropolitan the Tamasosskii and Oriniiskii Isaiia (Cyprus Church), Archbishop of Prague Mikhail (Church of Czech Lands and Slovakia), Bishop of Moravia Antonii (Serbian Church), Bishop the Hainovskii Pavel (Polish Church), as well as metropolitans, archbishops and bishops of Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The representatives of Local Churches before Divine Liturgy also took part in briefing for mass media and expressed their deep respect to Metropolitan Onufriy and support to the whole Ukrainian Orthodox Church. “Our presence here means the support to canonicity of our Church and its liturgy unity with the whole Orthodox world”, – expressed the general opinion metropolitan of Alexandria Orthodox Church Meletii at the briefing.
Metropolitan of Cyprus Orthodox Church Isaiia, in his turn, addressed to the powers of Ukraine with the request to provide believers of all confessions with equal rights and to return the occupied temples of UOC to its churchmen. “We would like to ask the government of Ukraine to do all it can to return the temples that have been taken away from believers of UOC, – mentioned Metropolitan Isaiia. – The religious rights of believers for all confessions shall be provided in full. We ask that the people, who have been excluded from their temples and preach in unsuitable premises, would return to their temples and their rights would be restored”.
Let’s remind that no Local Church has acknowledged the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, created through union of sectarian UOC of KP and UAOC that received the Tomos about autocephaly from Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew. And Metropolitan Epiphaniy, who became the head, turned out to be in actual isolation both on enthronement day and during participation in solemnities on occasion of Patriarch Bartholomew Name Day.
Христина Савчук
Hrystyna Savchuk
