Tomos and a single church are the spiritual foundation of state building - President during the thanksgiving service in St. Mykolai Temple of Boryspil
President Petro Poroshenko took part in the thanksgiving service regarding the Tomos of autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in St. Mykolai Temple of Boryspil. Before the start of the festive liturgy conducted by Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Metropolitan Epifaniy, the Tomos was brought into the temple.
"Tomos is a God's gift. The same will happen with the EU and NATO when Ukrainians are united. And they will be united when they have a spiritual foundation," Petro Poroshenko said. At the same time, he stressed that receiving the Tomos of autocephaly was an "event no less important than the Act on the proclamation of Ukraine's independence".
"Tomos and a single church are the spiritual foundation for all Orthodox and not only Orthodox. A single church and the Tomos are an element of state creation, and we create, we strengthen our Ukrainian state," the President said.
The Head of State stressed that all Ukrainians who pray for the unity of the Orthodox Church are "participants of the process of unity and creation of a new autocephalous church" and thanked every parish and every priest for the decision to join our church.
His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy thanked the President of Ukraine for his efforts on obtaining the Tomos.
"President of Ukraine Petro Oleksiyovych managed to reach out to all Ukrainian hierarchs, as well as to the heart of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Through our joint efforts, church hierarchs and state officials headed by the President managed to complete this difficult path," Metropolitan Epifaniy noted. He stressed that "if we are one, the Lord will help us".
