Tulchin eparchy: Attempts to create SLC contradict the Constitution
On July 10, the Eparchial Council of the Tulchin eparchy of the UOC condemned the initiative and actions of the Ukrainian authorities to create the Single Local Church.
The Eparchial Council was chaired by Metropolitan Jonathan (Yeletskikh) of Tulchin and Bratslav, reports the website of the eparchy.
At the meeting, the historic Statement of the Bishops' Council, held on June 25 in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, on the desirability of preserving the existing status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as an independent, self-governing and staying in the bosom of patriarchal Orthodox Church was read out and unanimously approved.
The Eparchial Council qualified the attempts of the Ukrainian authorities to create the SLC as anti-legal and as a gross violation of the Constitution, which clearly refers to the separation of the state from the Church.
The Council also condemned the ideological campaign to discredit the citizens of Ukraine – the faithful of the canonical UOC – in a number of mass media and called on the authors of the "slanderous publications to abandon the practice of labelling the canonical UOC recognized by the Local Orthodox Churches ("The Church of the aggressor country", "The Church of separatists", etc.)".
In 2016, the Tulchin eparchy took a decision to establish a Committee to protect canonical Orthodoxy.
