The Consul of Ukraine in Thessaloniki Oleksandr Voronin visited the Monastery of Panagia Dovras in Veria, where he met Metropolitan Panteleimon of Veria, Naoussis and Campania.
During the meeting, the Consul informed the Metropolitan about the process of establishing the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, as well as about the current church situation in Ukraine. In particular, it was stressed that the state authorities contribute to maintaining law and order in order to ensure that the rights of all believers in Ukraine are not violated and to prevent possible hostilities or violence between supporters of different parishes.
In addition, The Consul informed the Metropolitan that about 500 parishes, which used to be under the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Moscow, are officially under the jurisdiction of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Also, the two parties discussed the prospects of an increasingly close relationship between Ukraine and Greece in matters of cross-community ecclesiastical cooperation. A separate issue in this context was the issue of recognition of the Ukrainian autocephaly by the local churches, received on January 6, 2019 by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.