Sunday, November 13, about 150 men gathered on Sofiyska ploshcha (Sofia square) in Kiev for public prayer for unification of Ukrainian Christians. The action was organized by “Christian Ukraine”, the public organization of Greco-Catholic Church parish.
One of the main demands of the organizers was the delivery of Saint Sofia Cathedral to the faithful. Greco-Catholics informed that their claims to the Orthodox temple are grounded.
“Who told that Sofia was build by the Orthodox? They mix up everything, saying that grand duke Vladimir christened Rus’ to be Orthodox. In reality, there was Single Cathedral Apostolic Church, submitted to the Pope throne. It means that originally we were christened as Catholic power, not Orthodox. And only in 1051 there was a split, which Moscow had a hand in,” said the representative of “Christian Ukraine” Oksana Mosiy.
The Orthodox took the statement of the Greco-Catholics with bewilderment.
“Claims of members of Uniat Church to the Cathedral are fully ungrounded,” explained priest Dimitry Poznansky, “Duke Vladimir adopted Christianity from Byzantium, not from Rome. There was no primacy of Pope over other Churches till 1054.”
The faithful of Ukrainian Orthodox Church intend to hamper the delivery of Sofia Cathidral to Greco-Catholics.
“We will not allow the delivery of Saint Sofia to Uniats. Greco-Catholics’ claims arouse storm of indignation with the faithful. To take off the holy of holies – Sofia Cathedral – from the Orthodox is a summit of impudence,” declared Valery Kaurov, the head of Orthodox Citizens Union of Ukraine.
