Some 57% of Ukrainians await the visit of the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with a positive attitude.
Another 32.5% say they are neutral about the event, while only 6% oppose it, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the OCU press service reports.
At the same time, among followers of certain denominations, most of those who have a positive attitude to the visit are among the faithful of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (72% and 63%, respectively). Among the supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, 49% have a positive attitude to the visit and only 15% are negative about it.
It should be reminded that on October 16, 2020, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine invited the Ecumenical Patriarch for a Ukraine visit on the 30th anniversary of independence.
On May 26, 2021, Hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, met with His Beatitude Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine and announced the details of the upcoming visit by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in August this year.
Also, the Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, met with Metropolitan Emmanuel to discuss details of the Ecumenical Patriarch’s visit.
