"We have no doubt that every Ukrainian will come. Because it’s a very simple choice, because it’s not a choice between patriarchy, but the choice between Ukraine and Russia. No one will put pressure on anyone, if somebody wants to stay in a church which preserves unity with the Russian Ortodox Church, it is their choice, but this choice must be conscious," Poroshenko said, as quoted by the UNIAN news agency.
READ MORE: Finnish Orthodox Church Denies Claims on Support for Ukrainian Church's Autonomy
On Saturday, a "unification council" was held in Kiev, at which the "metropolitan" of the non-canonical church structure, Epiphany Dumenko, was elected head of the "new church."
The Moscow Patriarchate called the situation around the autocephaly the "legalization of schism," saying that it will have catastrophic consequences and affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries, and has already broken the Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.