State Department: Washington supports Ukrainians’ “free choice” to join OCU

Samuel Brownback, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. Photo: open sources

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Samuel Brownback said said Washington was “pleased to see” the steps taken by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to establish a new church structure in Ukraine and believes they should be implemented.

“Late last year, I was in Ukraine, where I met with representatives of religious and government bodies,” the U.S. diplomat said at a briefing for foreign journalists on Thursday, February 7. “I stated the position of the United States: ‘You should have the right to freely choose whatever organizational structure you want within the Church or religious body, and once you make that decision, we will support it.’ That was the position of the Ukrainian people, the government and the Church, and it was supported by the Ecumenical Patriarch.”

According to TASS, Brownback repeatedly told journalists that Washington supported “this free decision” by Ukrainians.

“They should be able to freely organize their faith as they see fit, and we will support that,” the State Department official stressed.

Earlier, on February 5, 2019, Bishop Gedeon (Kharon) handed to U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and members of the American Congress an official appeal from the UOC, which set out facts of discrimination against the canonical Church by the Ukrainian authorities. U.S. government representatives promised to look into the situation and to help the UOC set up its own representation in the United States of America.

As the the UOJ reported, in December 2018 U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo held a telephone conversation with OCU head “Metropolitan” Epifaniy, during which he called for respect for “the ability of all Ukrainians to practice their religion as they choose.”

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