Reshetnikov: Most Ukrainians don't care about Patriarch Bartholomew

During a meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew, President Zelensky invited him to the Independence Day of Ukraine. Photo: Pravoslavye.com.ua

Yuriy Reshetnikov, a specialist in the field of state-church relations, commenting to the UOJ on the words of the head of the President's Office Andrey Yermak that all of Ukraine is looking forward to the visit of Patriarch Bartholomew, said that the majority of Ukrainian citizens do not care about Patriarch Bartholomew, and they are not waiting for him.

“Such statements are ridiculous, because the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians do not care about (Patriarch – Ed.) Bartholomew. To be honest, the majority of Ukrainian citizens are not waiting for him, not because they do not want to see him (Patriarch Bartholomew – Ed.), but because they are indifferent to him,” the expert said.

“As for the believers of the UOC, it is no secret that the hierarchy of the UOC declared this visit as inappropriate in the current situation (not in general), taking into account the issues that have been already mentioned, and most importantly, because of the harmful role the patriarch played in the matter of dividing not only Orthodoxy, but the entire Ukrainian society, and also because of fears about the result of this visit,” he added.

As the UOJ previously reported, Ruslan Bortnik, Director of the Ukrainian Institute for Politics, said that Yermak did not ask the country if it was anticipating the visit of the head of Phanar.

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