Ukrainian Rada Votes To Hand Kiev's St. Andrew Church Over To Constantinople Patriarchate

Sumaira FH Published October 18, 2018 | 05:19 PM

The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved on Thursday in the second reading a bill on handing the St. Andrew's Church, located in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, over to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for permanent use, with 237 out of 450 lawmakers voting in favor of the move

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2018) The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved on Thursday in the second reading a bill on handing the St. Andrew's Church, located in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, over to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for permanent use, with 237 out of 450 lawmakers voting in favor of the move.

The explanatory note to the bill pointed out that the handing over of the church would be essential for the confirmation of the "spiritual connection" between the Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

"As a state-possessed house of worship, the St. Andrew's Church of the Sophia of Kyiv National Conservation Area, which is an outstanding culture heritage object and a nationally significant piece of architecture, is handed over to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for permanent free use for conducting church services, religious ceremonies and processions there," the document read.

The bill is now to be signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

It comes several days after the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) decided to completely "break the Eucharistic communion" with the Patriarchate of Constantinople after the latter launched preparations for granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

The head of the ROC's department for external church relations, Metropolitan Hilarion, noted that the ROC hoped that the decision to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian church would be reversed, and until that time, the Patriarchate of Constantinople would be in a schism.

Ukraine is a canonical territory of Russian Orthodox Church. Although there are several churches there, only one has an official recognition � the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is trying to achieve recognition of non-canonical institutions and to create a single local autocephalous church based on them in Ukraine.