Shevchuk: With the OCU we are reviving Kyiv’s ancient center of Christianity
The head of the UGCC declared that Rome, Moscow, and Constantinople must accept the emergence of a united center of Christianity in Kyiv, consisting of the OCU and the Uniates.
The head of the UGCC, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, stated that an ancient and powerful center of Christianity is being revived in Kyiv together with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He said this in an interview with the program Open Church.
“And this is happening today: both on the part of our Orthodox brothers and on our part, from the side of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the ancient and powerful center of Christianity in Kyiv is being reborn. Rome, Moscow, and Constantinople must come to terms with this,” Shevchuk emphasized.
He noted that while celebrating anniversaries – the 30th anniversary of the renewal of the Kyiv Metropolis structures and the 20th anniversary of the relocation of the UGCC residence to Kyiv – his Church appeals to the OCU with a call for unity for the good of Ukraine. “We appeal to our Orthodox brothers with a call for unity for the good of Ukraine, with a call to move from rivalry to cooperation, from rivalry to primacy in love,” he said.
According to Shevchuk, the unity of different branches of the Kyiv Church today is directly connected with the subjecthood of the Kyiv Church itself. He recalled the message of Lubomyr Husar One People of God in the Land of the Kyiv Hills.
He emphasized that today the prophecy of Sheptytsky is beginning to be fulfilled: “European leaders understand that today the fate of Europe is being decided in Kyiv.” In the opinion of His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the subjecthood of the Kyiv Church directly influences the subjecthood of Kyiv as the center of the Ukrainian state. “If we truly want to build a strong state that would not only have a declared independence, but would be genuinely a subject – a voice, someone who must be reckoned with – then here the Ukrainian churches, in particular the Christianity of Kyiv, have a very weighty and important word to say,” he noted.
Earlier, the UOJ cited Shevchuk’s words that claims about the emergence of the Uniates as a result of the Union are “Moscow propaganda.”
