Novinsky: UOC has been and will be the Church of the Ukrainian people
It is Ukrainians who serve in the UOC; they always pray for Ukraine, its authorities, people and prosperity, said MP Vadim Novinsky.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has always been and will be the Church of the Ukrainian people, who pray for Ukraine, said the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Vadim Novinsky.
"As for the UOC, it has been and will be the Church of the Ukrainian people. And it is always for the Ukrainian people, for every Ukrainian, the MP said on YouTube channel "Vlast vs Vlashchenko”. “And priests and bishops who serve in the Church are also Ukrainians. Someone from other countries, who thinks only about Russia's prosperity, has not come there either. The Church prays constantly for our country, for our people, for the current power in Ukraine, and that our country has prosperity.
According to Novinsky, the myth that the UOC is supposedly the "Church of the Moscow Patriarchate" was created and actively supported under Yushchenko. Later, under Poroshenko, this myth was adopted again.
"There is no "Church of the Moscow Patriarchate", there is just the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, that’s it. The UOC is a canonical Church, which dates back to the times of Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles. This historical connection, starting in 988, has reached our time," said the VR deputy.
The Church has laws, which more than 2000 years ago were laid down by the Lord Himself, Novinsky added.
"The Church is not just a state attribute or a state institution, it is a god-human organism on earth. It is in no way subject to all our ideas about how the state should be arranged," said Vadim Novinsky.
Earlier he stressed that Ukraine should use the peacekeeping potential of the UOC more.