Moskal: Tomos played a negative role in Transcarpathia

Геннадий Москаль

Petro Poroshenko shouldn’t have touched upon the topic of religion in a multicultural and religiously diverse Transcarpathian region, said the head of the Transcarpathian RSA Gennady Moskal in an interview with uzhgorod.net.ua.

“Here, the implemented reforms and slogans caused mixed feelings,” the official said. “At one time I was even afraid to say a word “Tomos” because there are 640 communities of the Moscow Patriarchate, 32 monasteries ... And instead of the Local Church, we received the Metropolis from Constantinople, and de facto – no churches and no tendencies towards a massive transition.”

According to the head of the Transcarpathian RSA, the intervention of Petro Poroshenko in church affairs is directly related to his defeat in the presidential election in this region – 16.3% of Transcarpathians gave their votes “for” Poroshenko.

“I do not claim that the priests did some kind of campaigning, in our conditions, there was no need in that. The topic of religion in multicultural and religiously diverse Transcarpathia shouldn’t have been touched upon. Here, historically, churches did not identify themselves with the Moscow Patriarchate, both under Czechoslovakia and during the Soviet era. And if in Lvov, Ivano-Frankovsk and Ternopol regions the Tomos played its positive role, we have the opposite picture,” said Gennady Moskal.

As the UOJ reported, after a crushing defeat in the presidential election, Petro Poroshenko announced that he was going to shield the OCU from revenge.

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