A mosque with a minaret in the capital city of Ukraine

Lvov (Ukraine), 3 December 2011

President of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Government

Dear Mr President, dear Members of the Government,

construction of the mosque in Kiev has entered its final stage. The mosque has a minaret, prayer hall and educational centre. It has a capacity of 3,000 people. The foundation stone of the mosque was laid in 1991. At the end of 2004, Kievan City State Administration endorsed a resolution concerning additional allotment of land and building permits for the entire Islamic complex.

In the past, the heroes of the Ukrainian history – Cossacks – defended their Orthodox faith not only against the occupation policy of Polish Catholicism but above all against the incursions of the Tartars and the Turkish sultan. Today the capital of Ukraine has a massive centre of Islam in token of tolerance towards religious minorities. But we ask what tolerance do the Muslim countries show towards the religious minorities of Christians there?

Examples from this year: A few days ago about 150 Christians were killed in Nigeria in a massacre which lasted 4 hours, and hundreds of other Christians are missing. In October, a Christian church was demolished in Egypt, about 800 km from Cairo, Egypt’s capital. In response to it, Christians participated in a silent demonstration in Cairo. The police opened fire on peaceful demonstrators. Dozens were shot to death and seriously wounded. The murderous events took place several days before the meeting in Assisi, where the Pope with representatives of Islam declared on oath that they would strive for justice, peace and tolerance. On New Year’s Day in Alexandria, Egypt, at least 21 Christians were killed and another 90 injured in an explosion, when they were leaving the church after the Midnight Mass. The entrance to the church was covered with blood and parts of human bodies. In Afghanistan and some other countries, ownership of the Bible carries the death penalty. There have been numbers of cases in Pakistan when the Muslims poured gasoline on Christians and burnt them to death. Such brutal murders are a common practice there.

Justice demands that within interreligious relations Christians in the Muslim territories should have the same rights as Muslims have in the Christian territories. There is nothing to discuss, if the word ‘justice’ has its proper and true content. Therefore, before the grand opening of the Islamic centre in Kiev, the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate appeals to You, Mr President and Members of the Government, to demand that the Muslim religious leaders fulfil the following conditions:

1) They shall write a public statement to the governments and religious leaders of Muslim countries, including the requirement for the same tolerance towards Christians as is shown by the Christian governments towards the Muslims in the Christian territory.

2) They shall apply to the governments and religious leaders of Muslim states for at least one Christian church with a capacity of 3,000 people in any of their capital cities along with a Christian educational centre according to the model in Kiev. Once the document is completed and practical construction of the church begins, the Muslims can start using the mosque in Kiev. In case completion of the construction is somehow prevented, or in case of any incident, the Kiev mosque must be closed within the bounds of justice until the international treaties and obligations are observed again.

These are the principles of justice which alone can establish true peace and true tolerance. Everything else is just lofty theories, phrases and deception of the public.

As regards the Vatican, the Western Church and Western European countries and their attitude towards the Muslims, we remind of the fact that there are more than 50 million Muslims in Europe today. In Germany, more than 3,000 mosques have been erected over the past 30 years. A large number of them have been built in England, France, Holland and other European countries. During this period, on the other hand, there has been much bloodshed in Muslim countries, the victims being Christians. For instance, masses of Christians had to flee Iran where they had lived for centuries. We ask why international organizations like the UN, EU or COE have not imposed sanctions for such crimes against peaceful inhabitants. Apparently they followed the example of the world powers and their hypocritical silence on the genocide of 1.5 million Armenian Christians perpetrated by Turkish Muslims less than 100 years ago (1915). The crime of silence was reminded to them by Hitler when he began his reduction policy of extermination of nations founded on his ideology of master race. Why do the present-day supranational organizations not establish a fair principle: one mosque in Europe – one church on the Muslim territory?

On the other hand, the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate has to admit that Muslims in Ukraine, unlike the UGCC and RCC, oppose the implementation of the juvenile justice system as well as gender ideology promoting homosexuality and transsexuality. Ex-Head of the UGCC, L. Husar, along with the whole apostatical Catholic hierarchy openly approve of the sin of homosexuality.

Dear Mr President, dear Members of the Government, we would like to ask You before the opening of the Islamic centre in Kiev to accept responsibly the two conditions proposed by us concerning the relations between Muslims and Christians on the principle of justice.

+ Elijah

Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

+ Methodius OSBMr     + Timothy OSBMr

Secretary Bishops

Cc:

–         Presidents of Europe

–         MEPs

–         Representatives of Christian Churches in Ukraine