MOSCOW, September 30 – Novosti. The Office of the Moscow Patriarchate for Dioceses in the Near Abroad, whose competence includes dioceses in Ukraine, will organize the life of parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the territories that have expressed a desire to join the Russian Federation in referendums, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) told Novosti Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk of the Moscow Patriarchate.
“By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 24, 2022, the Moscow Patriarchate’s Office for Dioceses in the CIS countries was formed under the leadership of Metropolitan Pavel of Krutitsy and Kolomna. Dioceses on the territory of Ukraine are also within its competence,” he told Novosti.
The synod, according to the journals of its meeting, published by the website of the Moscow Patriarchate , made such a decision after hearing a message from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia about the need for this step.
Referendums on the question of joining Russia were held from 23 to 27 September in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics , as well as in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions . According to the results of processing 100% of the ballots in the DPR , 99.23% of those who voted for joining the Russian Federation, in the LPR – 98.42%, in the Kherson region – 87.05%, in the Zaporozhye region – 93.11%. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia would support the decision, which will be made by the residents of Donbass , Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
The press secretary of the Russian leader , Dmitry Peskov , said earlier that the ceremony of signing agreements on the entry of new territories into Russia will be held on Friday in the Kremlin. The Federation Council will consider all issues related to the entry of new regions into Russia at a meeting on October 4.
