President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with representatives of the 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. You pray every day for our warriors – for those on the frontline, those who are wounded, and those who, unfortunately, are not with us, as well as for civilian Ukrainians who work, live and study in the state,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President expressed particular gratitude to the chaplains who support the defenders at the front, and shared his hope that military chaplaincy will continue to develop.
The Head of State emphasized that the role of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations is important for Ukraine's advocacy in the world. After all, the Russian Federation is trying to use its church to influence the views of Ukrainians who have gone abroad because of the war.
Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Epiphaniy thanked Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his assistance in adopting the law on the protection of spiritual independence. He emphasized that representatives of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations convey the truth about Ukraine abroad and fight Russian propaganda.
The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav, thanked the President for specifically mentioning the activities of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations in the Internal Resilience Plan. He also highlighted that Ukrainian diplomatic missions and religious organizations should work together to support Ukrainians temporarily residing abroad.
President of the Ukrainian Bible Society Hryhorii Komendant, Head of the All-Ukrainian Union of the Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists Valerii Antoniuk, and Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church Anatoliy Kozachok emphasized that participation of religious organizations is also important for defending Ukraine's interests abroad.
The meeting was also attended by: Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine and Ordinary of Kyiv-Zhytomyr Vitalii (Kryvytskyi), President of the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Stanislav Nosov, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church Leonid Padun, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Evangelical Church Oleksandr Zaitsev, Head of the Religious Administration of Muslims of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Ayder Rustemov, Bishop of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church Vyacheslav Horpynchuk, Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine Pavlo Shvarts, Bishop of the Ukrainian Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church Marcos Hovhannisyan, Bishop of the Trans-Carpathian Reformed Church Petro Sehlianyk, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Association of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine Yevhen Ziskind, and Deputy General Secretary of Ukrainian Bible Society Anatoliy Raychynets.
