Poroshenko keeps intruding into Church affairs

Ukraine is expecting the Constantinople Patriarchate to return autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church, says the statement of President Petro Poroshenko on the occasion of Baptism of Kievan Rus, writes Zerkalo Nedeli.

The President reminded that Vladimir the Great 1029 years ago decided to baptize Rus.

"He accepted the Christian faith from the Church of Constantinople, which for us is still the Church-Mother. It is from it that we, as a country with one of the largest Orthodox communities in the world, expect the earliest recognition of natural autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church – by a large number of believers, equal to other Local Orthodox churches. And, of course, spiritually and administratively independent from Moscow," the President said.

Poroshenko also believes that the choice of the Christian faith by Prince Vladimir was a European choice.

Earlier, Petro Poroshenko supported an address of the Verkhovna Rada to Patriarch Bartholomew on granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church.