A Ukrainian politician is accused of non-patriotism because he got married in a temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
March 12, 2016. Anatoly Gritsenko, ex -Defense Minister, expressed his discomfort during a press conference in Lviv (Ukraine). He considers as immoral and groundless the accusations of non-patriotism for getting married in a temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the individuals who expressed such accusations as “people without Christ, as reports the website Glavkom.
“Honestly, I didn’t think that in Lviv, in the city which in many aspects is the closest to Europe, the question “who goes to what church” would arise. Still, we are going to Europe, but not back to Bolshevism. In Europe people, their rights and freedoms are valued by the state“, said Mr. Gritsenko.
He explained why he chose the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: “My wife Julia Bridge (editor in chief of the publication” The Mirror of the Week”) and I got married in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church where we had been baptized, as well as our parents and children. We did not go to the Russian Orthodox Church in order to be baptized and instead went to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church whose parishioners are millions of Ukrainian citizens, including those who died on the Maidan and those who are now in the line. I believe we must respect the choice of every person. We go to church to communicate with God. It’s our choice. I think that there shouldn’t be any division between right or wrong churches.”
He told about his experience with the bishops of the Christian Churches of Ukraine in the period 1997-2007, when he was co-chairman of the permanent round table “Authority and religion” and then became Defense Minister.
“I’m sure that none of them would have addressed such accusations against me or my wife,“he assured.