Ukraine waited for autocephalous church for 1,030 years - Poroshenko

"I would like to turn to Bishop Sofrony. I would like to thank you for a very meaningful, very frank and instructive conversation of a sincere person and believer who loves Ukraine very much, who loves Cherkasy region, who builds temples here and who looks at the future of the Ukrainian church - the future of the local autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. I bow down to you and I thank you for your work," Poroshenko said.

The head of state also said in his speech to the public and political activists of Cherkasy region that Ukrainians support the creation of a single local Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Speaking about the autocephaly of the Ukrainian church, Poroshenko emphasized that despite the efforts of everyone - the president, the Verkhovna Rada, church hierarchs and people's support "this would certainly not have been done if not for were no God's will."

"Ukrainians were waiting for this great event not for nearly 27 years. And even not for 332 years. They were waiting for 1,030 years since the Christianization of Ukraine by Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr. Ukraine was waiting for an autocephalous church for 1,030 years," Poroshenko said.

He emphasized the importance of the issue of autocephaly of the Ukrainian church, "because it is one of the key elements of the state-building of a sovereign, independent state of Ukraine."

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