Roman Bessmertny: Power must delegate part of the authority to Churches
The state of Ukraine must conclude an agreement (concordat) with the Churches that have representative offices in the occupied Donbass and Crimea, according to Roman Bessmertny.
It is necessary to take such a step so that the power could hand over to the Churches part of their social authority to work in these territories, the politician wrote on his Facebook page.
Roman Bessmertny expressed this opinion during the roundtable "International Transitional Administrations: Experience, Opportunities and Risks for Ukraine" at the "Ukrinform" and, according to him, received the support of the majority of the audience.
"I am surprised, for example, why the Ukrainian lawmakers in the law on the so-called reintegration recognize primary documents on birth and death issued by unrecognized organizations. Such documents on behalf of the state of Ukraine could be issued by those institutions that have always (except for the Soviet period) performed this function. For a thousand years the Church has done it," the diplomat writes.
He stressed that he had discussed this possibility with the leaders of many Churches, and they "welcome this proposal and agree to such a function".
The politician added that "working together with the population in the occupied territories could also help unite the Churches themselves. This would create a completely different model of their relations. Now, the question is only for the authorities – are they ready for such an agreement? "
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church constantly offers prayers for peace in Ukraine and takes an active part in the exchange of prisoners of war. In 2015, due to the intercession of the Church, it was possible to release the defender of the Donetsk airport Taras Kolodiy from the captivity, and on December 27, 2017 a prisoner exchange was made according to the formula "74 for 306". Wives and mothers of Ukrainian prisoners of war have repeatedly visited His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry during the years of military operations. The Primate of the UOC does everything possible to release the captives. At his request, the direct participation in the process was taken by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
Roman Bessmertny is a representative of Ukraine in the political subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group for the peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine.
