Poroshenko’s appeal to Bartholomew I violates Constitution, – women’s party
The Solidarity of Women of Ukraine party pointed to the substitution of the will of the people by the sole decision of the President to ask Istanbul for autocephaly.
On April 19, the leader of the party Galina Sumenkova wrote to Patriarch Bartholomew I about the absence of an all-Ukrainian referendum on autocephaly and violations of the Constitution, which were allowed by politicians to create a Single Local Church on behalf of the people of Ukraine, reports an UOJ source.
Galina Sumenkova pointed out that in a public statement on the need to create a single local church, Petro Poroshenko violated Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which guarantees separation of the Church from the state and pointed out that the substitution of "unity of the people by voting in parliament" is unacceptable, which violates Article 5.
"We state that no national referendum on this topic has been conducted. And accordingly, the people of Ukraine have never delegated to the members of Parliament and the President of Ukraine the authority to appeal to Your Holiness on the creation of the Local Autocephalous Church ... and cannot be regarded as the will of the people of Ukraine," says the letter.
