“The head of state emphasized that the role of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations is important for the advocacy of Ukraine in the world.”, — write: www.president.gov.ua
President Volodymyr Zelenskyi met with representatives of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations and congratulated them on the upcoming holidays – Christmas and Hanukkah.
“I want to thank you for being with the Ukrainian people, supporting people, praying for all of us. Pray every day for our soldiers – for those who are at the front, who are wounded and who, unfortunately, are not there, as well as for civilian Ukrainians who work, live and study in the state,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Separately, the President thanked the chaplains who support the defenders at the front, and expressed hope that the military chaplaincy will continue to develop.
The head of state emphasized that the role of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations is important for the advocacy of Ukraine in the world. After all, the Russian Federation is trying to use the church to influence the opinion of Ukrainians who went abroad because of the war.
Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Epiphany thanked Volodymyr Zelenskyi for his assistance in passing the law on the protection of spiritual independence. He emphasized that the representatives of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations convey the truth about Ukraine abroad and fight against Russian propaganda.
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Svyatoslav, thanked the President for the fact that the Internal Stability Plan separately mentions the activities of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. He also noted that Ukrainian diplomatic institutions and religious organizations should jointly support Ukrainians who are temporarily abroad.
President of the Ukrainian Bible Society Hryhoriy Komendant, head of the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptist Churches Valery Antoniuk and senior bishop of the Ukrainian Church of Evangelical Christians Anatoliy Kozachok emphasized that the participation of religious organizations is also important for defending the interests of Ukraine abroad.
The meeting was also attended by: the ordinary bishop of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church Vitaly (Kryvytskyi), the president of the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Stanislav Nosov, the senior bishop of the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church Leonid Padun, the senior bishop of the Ukrainian Evangelical Church Oleksandr Zaitsev, Ayder Rustemov, head of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Bishop of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church Vyacheslav Horpynchuk, Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church Pavlo Schwartz, Head of the Ukrainian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Markos Ohanesyan, Pastor of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church Petro Seglyanyk, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Association of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine Yevhen Ziskind and Executive Director of the Ukrainian Bible Society Anatoly Raichynets.
