Ukraine’s President Poroshenko has been accused to embezzling over 15 million US dollars raised as financial donation to Constantinople, transferring only 10 million to the patriarchate.
Before the Ukrainian guarantor traveled to Istanbul, several very wealthy sponsors of the Ukrainian schismatic church collected as much as 25 million dollars in financial aid to Constantinople, but only 10 of them were handed over to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Poroshenko.
In response, Bartholomew said that the delegation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople will not attend the celebration of the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus, which will be held on July 27 in Kiev.
“Most likely, distinguished guests from Istanbul will not come exactly for this reason. Such a situation could be called an offence, to put it mildly. I would not be surprised if we can not wait for the autocephaly of the United Local Orthodox Church by July 28, “the source said.
It is worth noting that such a step of the Ukrainian guarantor was very reckless, considering that he himself placed a big bet on the creation of the United Local Church in the country, hoping to use it as a trump card in the upcoming elections. He was not even afraid to take “sponsorship fee” to Istanbul, which in the Ukrainian context can be regarded as an attempt to bribe the supreme clergymen.