Results of the Patriarchal visit to the Ukraine. A press conference.
I would like to note that one of the leitmotifs of the Patriarch’s stay in the Ukraine was the theme of overcoming the schism. As is known, the schism has existed in the Ukraine for some fifteen years now. It is a persistent wound on the body of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, and His Holiness, in his addresses to various audiences, repeatedly spoke of the destructiveness of the schism, and the need to overcome it as soon as possible. At its session on July 26 in Kiev, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted an Appeal to the Orthodox Christians in the Ukraine who are in the schism, calling them to return to the canonical Church.