Poroshenko arrives in Lutsk with Filaret and without Epiphany
During a trip to Lutsk, the central city of “Met.” Mikhail Zinkevich “eparchy”, President Poroshenko was accompanied by Filaret, the OCU head Epiphany was not present.
On January 15, the President and Filaret Denisenko, touring with Tomos around Ukraine, arrived in Lutsk, reports volyn24.com.
The Tomos on autocephaly of the OCU was demonstrated during a thanksgiving prayer service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral.
“333 years, the Ukrainian Church has been under the Moscow yoke. Now this yoke is off. This is evidenced by this historical document, which today is in Lutsk. It is here so that everyone can come up and rejoice that we finally have our Church, which is recognized. Ukrainians have been struggling for this for a very long time,” said Petro Poroshenko.
Poroshenko also thanked “Metropolitan” Mikhail Zinkevich of Lutsk and Volyn for the “courageous decision” at the “Unification Council” to withdraw his candidature for the position of the OCU leader in favour of the current “primate” Epiphany. The President stated that the “courage” of “Metropolitan” Mikhail Zinkevich allowed the creation of the OCU.
Filaret took the floor after Poroshenko, saying that “thanks to the wisdom of the President”, Ukrainians came out of the church “deadlock”: “There can be no Ukrainian state without a Ukrainian Church, and there can be no autocephalous Church without a Ukrainian state,” added Filaret.
As reported earlier, Lutsk is the third city after Rovno and Vinnitsa, where Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko brought the Tomos as part of his tour around Ukraine.
