“In my opinion, this visit is very important and it was made on our initiative. For the Church of the ancient Constantinople is the Mother-Church of all the Christians of the Kyivan tradition who received the faith in the Baptism of the holy Prince Volodymyr Equal-to-the Apostles,” commented the Head of UGCC.
He stressed that the Ecumenical Patriarch today is an important moral authority both in the Orthodox world and in the Christian world in general.
The Head of UGCC assured the Ecumenical Patriarch of the readiness to develop the relations with the Church of Constantinople. In particular, he spoke about the prospects of renewal of the Kyiv Study Group which included theologians and scholars of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of USA and Canada and of the UGCC.
“Obviously, in the last 20 years, religious circumstances in Ukraine changed fundamentally and, therefore, renewal of the activity of the group would facilitate the search for ways of inter-denominational understanding and dialogue within the Kyivan Christianity, on one hand, and renewal of the dialogue and possibilities of communion between the Churches, successors of the Kyivan Christianity in Ukraine and the Church of Constantinople, on the other hand,” concluded the Head of UGCC. So reported the Information Department of UGCC.