ES MP Pavlenko: There would be no Tomos without politicians

Poroshenko's party deputy Rostislav Pavlenko. Photo: screenshot / YouTube / Espresso.TV

Without the efforts of the then Ukrainian authorities, the Patriarchate of Constantinople would not have granted the Tomos on autocephaly to the OCU, said MP from Poroshenko's party Rostislav Pavlenko on the Espresso channel. TV.

According to the politician, former President Poroshenko played an exceptional role in the granting of the Tomos to the non-canonical church structure. Pavlenko considers him "one of the best diplomats in the world."

He said that it was Poroshenko who managed to convince Patriarch Bartholomew and his Synod "to ensure at least a neutral position of other Local Churches so that a wave of protests would not immediately explode", as well as to negotiate with Ukrainian "hierarchs", each of whom had their own interests.

When asked by the host, Pavlenko directly answered that without Poroshenko there would be no Tomos, and in general such an issue could not have been resolved without the participation of politicians.

The MP believes that Zelensky helped legitimize the actions initiated by Poroshenko, because it is important for the head of Phanar that the desire for autocephaly comes "from the people" – in his understanding it means from the authorities. The current president did this by confirming the invitation to Patriarch Bartholomew to come to Ukraine.

As reported by the UOJ, Yurash said that Zelensky's government continues Poroshenko's religious policy.

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