MP: Transfer of St. Andrew’s Church – retribution for Phanar’s iniquity

Parliamentarian of Ukraine from the Opposition Bloc Vadim Novinsky

The President of Ukraine proposed to transfer St. Andrew's church of Kiev to Phanar in order to pay for the Tomos in this way, MP Vadim Novinsky said on Segodnia (Today) program.

"We believe that this action is one of the ways of settling with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, it shows the loyalty of the Ukrainian authorities and the work to illegally procure the Tomos on autocephaly," Novinsky said.

The politician believes that St. Andrew’s church belongs to the Ukrainian people. “Of course, we will vote against this decision!” he promised.

The MP supported the decision of the Russian Orthodox Church to sever relations with Constantinople. He is confident that such an act served as a logical response to the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew.

“This is not blackmail, this is an absolutely legitimate reaction of the Russian Orthodox Church to the lawlessness the Ecumenical Patriarchate has wrought,” Novinsky said. “By his actions, the Patriarch of Constantinople violated the centuries-old established canonical structure of the World Orthodoxy. Just to mention the fact that he reinstated dissenter Filaret to his metropolitan’s rank. This is the first time in history when dissenters have been reinstated without repentance.”

The Parliamentarian recalled that when the Phanar began to address the issue of Ukrainian autocephaly, the decision of Patriarch Bartholomew was not supported by any Local Church: “Everyone opposed to that and said that the Council of Churches’ Primates, the so-called Synaxis of Primates, had to be convened on this issue.”

Now St. Andrew’s Church is used for worship services by the UAOC. The head of the schismatic organization, Makariy Maletich, agreed to give his only cathedral to the Phanar provided he was given something in return.

On October 18, the MPs voted for the transfer of the church of St. Andrew to the Constantinople Patriarchate by 237 votes, 30 voted against while 13 abstained.

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