Source: Interfax-Religion
Moscow, June 17, 2016
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate said the Rada deputies who have adopted an address to the Constantinople patriarch are incompetent, and called on the country's administration to intervene.
"The address is absurd. They could just as well ask for the invalidation of the outcome of the Peloponnesian Battle. Additionally, it shows an extremely low level of legal consciousness of our parliamentarians: in Ukraine, the Church is separated from the state, protected by the Constitution and laws and interference in its internal affairs is illegal," Vasily Anisimov, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church press service, said.
According to earlier reports, the Verkhovnaya Rada on Thursday called on Patriarch Bartholomew to issue a Tomos of autocephaly for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and invalidate a 1686 act, according to which the Kiev Metropolia was joined to the Moscow Patriarchate, allegedly "in violation of canons."
"The Church will decide itself what status is needs. I believe the president of Ukraine as guarantor of the Constitution and the Prosecutor General's Office should react to this Bolshevik, anti-Church, theomachist address and bring the initiators to justice," the source said.
