Vatican: Dialogue with the Orthodox should be implemented at local level

Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine Visvaldas Kulbokas. Photo: vaticannews.va

The dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox Christians should be implemented at the local level. Visvaldas Kulbokas, the representative of the Vatican in Ukraine, pointed to this in his address to the organizers and participants of the International Conference "Catholic-Orthodox Documents and Their Reception in Ukraine", which representatives of the UGCC, Phanara and the OCU held in Kyiv on October 26.

The greetings of the Apostolic Nuncio to the participants of the ecumenical event were read by the head of the UGCC Commission for the Promotion of Christian Unity Igor Shaban.

Addressing the conference participants, the Bishop of the RCC stressed that the dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox for Ukraine is “an area not only of a theoretical nature but also of a special task and responsibility since it reflects the nature of relations in one of the parts of Europe, in which there are numerous religions and cultures, traditions and bearers of special originality”.

“Noticing the success of this dialogue, it becomes obvious that the path we followed was the right one. But efforts need to be made to implement its practical and concrete representation at the local level so that it does not remain only theoretical entertainment,” he said.

The UOJ wrote that on October 26, a conference of the UGCC, Phanar and the OCU on the search for unity was held in Kyiv, during which Sviatoslav Shevchuk named the goal of the ecumenical dialogue – to restore communion.

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