Tomos should be included in Ukraine's legislation – MP Kniazhytskyi

He shared his opinion on Espreso TV. 

“I am convinced that the Tomos should be included in our legislation, because it was granted not only to the church, but essentially to the people and the government. I was one of those who prepared an appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch with a request to grant the Tomos, it was an appeal of the Verkhovna Rada, and there was also an appeal of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. Whoever was president or MP at the time, this was an appeal of state structures, so the state received this act, and accordingly, it should be in the law,” the MP emphasized.

Mykola Kniazhytskyi commented on the possibilities of people moving away from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. 

“The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU - ed.) should be more active, reaching out to people in the center and east of the country, and the state should also be more active in this matter. The initiative should come from the OCU, and the state should help in every way possible to be able to communicate with people and convince them. In my opinion, there are many people in the Russian church who do not believe in God, but in Russia, and Russia is their God. There are those who go to the nearest church, and there are those who do not want to move to the OCU. Another thing is that the OCU should not be a state church, I am categorically against it. I would not want any church in Ukraine to be a state church. I would like to see freedom for all denominations and religions in Ukraine. Even those people who do not want to join the OCU should have the opportunity to form their own organization. The only thing we are saying is that there should be no connection with Moscow,” Kniazhytskyi said.

For reference.  Three years ago, Ukraine received the Tomos. On January 6, 2019, in the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew solemnly presented the Tomos of Autocephaly (independence) to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.