Ukrainian academicians, artists and sportsmen wrote an open letter in which they called on Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to cancel his visit to Ukraine on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the independence of the country, the Centre of Information of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine stated.
“Famous Ukrainians addressed Patriarch Bartholomew in an open letter and called for a postponement of his visit to Ukraine on Independence Day. The letter was signed by Orthodox representatives of science, culture and sports... Orthodox Ukrainians appealed to the Patriarch of Constantinople to reconsider his decision to visit Ukraine because of the exacerbation of religious confrontation due to the recognition of the non-canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” the Facebook message of the Centre said.
The appeal was signed by Anatoly Peshko, Academician of the Academy of Economic Sciences of Ukraine, Vitaly Zhuravsky, Academician of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, Petr Tolochko, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, musician and producer Oleg Karamazov, Honoured Doctor of Ukraine Rostislav Valikhnovsky, President of the “Novosti” media holding Egor Benkendorf, TV producer Yuri Molchanov and others.
The letter reads: “We are sad to inform that none of the official representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will participate in the celebrations of the Independence Day of Ukraine on 24 August, at which Your Holiness was expected to be present. Shouldn’t you reconsider your plans? First of all, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, religious organisations in this country are separated from the State, and secondly, there are well-founded expectations that your presence at the celebration of the Day of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine may exacerbate the religious situation".
The authors of the letter also stated that granting the Orthodox Church of Ukraine with a Tomos of autocephaly “has led to the seizure of Orthodox churches by radical organisations and beatings of priests and worshippers with impunity”.
The last time Patriarch Bartholomew visited Ukraine was in 2008.
In 2018, at the initiative of then-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, a Unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine was held in Kiev, at which two schismatic organisations merged into one structure - the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which received a Tomos of autocephaly (independence) from Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church remains the only canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, and it has been strongly discriminated against by the state and nationalist Ukrainian groups since the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.