"To His Excellency Mr. President": text of the Tomos for OCU published

The Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, Andrei Sibiga, published the text of the Tomos on granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. It was signed by Patriarch Bartholomew and seven other metropolitans.

The signing took place in the presence of President Petro Poroshenko, his wife Marina and head of the OCU Metropolitan Epiphany,” wrote Sibiga in his Twitter account. The Ukrainian translation of the Tomos, posted on the Web by the Ambassador, is placed on three pages.

"Our Holy Great Church of Christ blesses and proclaims the Orthodox Church of Ukraine autocephalous," the document says.

The observers note an interesting nuance – Petro Poroshenko is directly mentioned in the text of the Tomos: “Being well-thought and reasoned and announced to you in rejoice from the respected Center of Orthodoxy, we issue this Patriarchal and Synodal Tomos, which was approved by the Council, for permanent preservation, written and signed in the Code of our Great Constantinople Church of Christ, handed over in an exact and identical copy to His Beatitude Epiphany, Primate of the Most Holy Church of Ukraine, and His Excellency Mr. Petro Poroshenko, President of the country, for eternal testimony and regular submission. The year of two thousand nineteen, the month of January, the 6th day, indiction 12."

Patriarch Bartholomew signed the Ukrainian Tomos on January 5, 2019 in Istanbul.