Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has met with Ecumenical Patriarchate's delegation consisting of His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod Archmandrite Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, and priest Vasilius Papathanasius, the presidential press service reported on Monday.
A meeting was held under agreement with Bartholomew, the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch.
During the meeting the sides expressed satisfaction with the development of the dialogue launched during Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to Ukraine last year on the occasion of the 1020th anniversary of the Christianization of the Kyivan Rus. In particular, the sides pointed out the progress made in relations between Orthodox believers in Ukraine and the establishment of continuous communication between them.
Yushchenko again stressed the need to deepen and extend an interchurch dialogue in order to overcome contradictions between the branches of the Orthodox Church and create a single Orthodox church in Ukraine.
