We will not worship other gods, – President of Ukraine

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in the Verkhovna Rada

Ukrainians will not worship other gods. This was stated by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in his Address to the Verkhovna Rada on September 20, reports the press service of the President.

"As the Holy Scripture reads, we definitely will not worship other gods," said the President. "And the state will not interfere in the internal affairs of the church, especially the foreign state. Why are they struggling for this? Because the empire loses one of the last levers of influence. The Tomos is actually another Act of Declaration of Ukraine's Independence."

According to the Head of State, the importance of the Tomos goes far beyond the borders of Ukraine.

"For us, our own Church is a guarantee of spiritual freedom. <...> This is the fall of the Third Rome as Moscow's oldest conceptual claim to world hegemony. Here, in our territories, the future of the Eastern Orthodoxy is also being solved. We and Russians understand it in absolutely different ways, and this is one of the reasons why we are not going the same way with Russians. Their church is a so-called “bond” of the authoritarian regime. And we, as the largest Orthodox country in Europe, will demonstrate how Eastern Christianity and democracy get along in one national organism," Poroshenko said.

Previously, Peter Poroshenko said that after receiving the Tomos, the state will respect the choice of those who decide to remain in the church structure maintaining unity with the Russian Orthodox Church and prevent any provocations. 

On September 17, the President of Ukraine held a meeting with the exarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Archbishop Daniel of Pamphylia and Bishop Hilarion of Edmonton.

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