Metropolitan Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, leaves a booth at a polling station in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010.
Ukraine has narrowly chosen the pro-Russia Viktor Yanukovich as its next president, after elections that rejected the West-leaning policies of the Orange Revolution.
· Ukrainian archbishop against confessional East-West division of Ukraine
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Posted on Mon Feb 08 2010
“We hope after presidential elections and change of power in Ukraine, vector of state policy on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will positively change,” the Archbishop said in his interview to Interfax-Religion on Monday.
Kiev, February 8, Interfax – Archbishop Ionafan of Tulchin and Bratslav expressed hope that new Ukrainian authorities would change policy on the church question.
“We hope after presidential elections and change of power in Ukraine, vector of state policy on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will positively change,” the Archbishop said in his interview to Interfax-Religion on Monday.
He pointed out that all recent years the Ukrainian Orthodox Church experienced “very tough pressure from Yuschenko and his allies.”
“It was rude interference into the UOC affairs, attempts to solve church questions bypassing church authority in Ukraine, bypassing His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. God grants, this time is over,” the interviewee of the agency said.
He mentioned, “God loves truth” and expressed an opinion that “this truth will be revealed at the elections, and we’ll soon see what it’s like, there’s not much time left.”
Last summer, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree to decorate Archbishop Ionafan with an Order of Friendship for “great contribution in developing cooperation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.”
Archbishop Ionafan is a pupil of the renowned pastor Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod who was a spiritual father for many church hierarchs including Patriarch Kirill.
Discussion: Ukrainian archbishop hopes new Ukrainian President won’t press the Church
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