Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said on Monday that the establishment of the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church could lead to a civil war.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th December, 2018) Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said on Monday that the establishment of the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church could lead to a civil war."A decree of the [Ukrainian] president, in accordance to which they [authorities in Kiev] insist that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church be reregistered and labeled 'Moscow-based' within four months, is about to be issued. They are leading the country into carnage, a civil war," Matvienko said during a press conference.
Matvienko also noted that such actions destroyed Ukraine and divided the country's society. She further highlighted that the Kiev-backed project on establishing the autocephalous Ukraine Orthodox Church was a crime, as civil authorities had grossly interfered with the spiritual area.
On December 15, a "unification council" was held in Kiev at the initiative of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew, at which Epiphany Dumenko was elected head of the autocephalous church. According to Ukrainian media, only two bishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) participated in the council. The Ukrainian authorities expect to get tomos of autocephaly from Constantinople in early January.
The Moscow Patriarchate has described the situation as the "legalization of schism," stressing that it would have catastrophic consequences and affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries.
