Terms shift: Parubiy said that Tomos is awaited in summer or autumn

Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andrei Parubiy

Ukraine can receive the Tomos on autocephaly as early as in 2018, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andrei Parubiy said during a press conference on July 13, reports Strana.Ua.

"We know that this issue does not have such a far-reaching prospect. This is a question of summer, autumn. We're waiting for the Tomos. We pray that Tomos be granted," the politician said.

Parubiy noted that now a working group is identifying key issues, among which the main thing is getting the Tomos on autocephaly.

"I am convinced that from the moment of receiving the Tomos we will see a mass transition of Orthodox Christians, now formally staying in the Moscow Patriarchate, into the Single Ukrainian Church," Parubiy added.

Earlier, the politician said that Ukraine hopes to receive theTomas on autocephaly from Phanar for the Day of the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Rus.

Supporters of the creation in Ukraine of the Single Local Church have repeatedly postponed the terms of the Tomos granting. In April, the spokesperson of the UOC KP Eustratiy Zoria said that Ukraine will receive the Tomos either in May or in July. A few months later, the representative of the UOC KP made a new forecast, saying that "the probability of receiving the Tomos for the day of Rus Baptism is less than 50%."

In mid-April, Poroshenko turned to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople with a request to grant the Tomos on autocephaly to the Church in Ukraine and announced the creation of the Single Local Church. The Verkhovna Rada supported the President’s request. The Kiev Patriarchate has already stated that they see their leader Filaret, excommunicated by the canonical Church, as the head of the SLC.

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