Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, speaking on 24 August on Independence Square, stated the need to create a single Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which would carry the "high mission of returning the nation to its spiritual origins." Since the stated clear position of the President caused a broad public response, the press service of the Volyn Eparchy of the Kyiv Patriarchate considers it necessary to publish a comment regarding this statement by Bishop Mykhailo of Lutsk and Volyn. \n"The clergy of our Church, like the overwhelming majority of Volyn residents – Orthodox Ukrainian patriots – joyfully and approvingly received the words of the President of Ukraine, which assure us that the state is ready not only to defend the country's national interests or care for its economic growth, but also, restoring historical justice, to promote the spiritual consolidation of Ukrainian society and the revival and nurturing of traditional Christian values. \nAnalyzing the prospects for resolving these important and long-painful problems, one does not need to be a far-sighted politician to understand that only an administratively independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church with a Patriarch in Kyiv is capable of becoming that spiritual core of the nation which will establish Ukraine forever. After all, it is obvious to all that this is precisely what the adherents of pro-Russian imperial policy fear, given their agonizing statements and actions. \nThe clergy and faithful of the Volyn Eparchy of the Kyiv Patriarchate, discussing the President of Ukraine's repeated similar statements and the actions of the new authorities in the regions (including in Volyn), note that today there is indeed an understanding: the state can and should play an important role in uniting divided Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The authorities need to more actively fulfill a mediating role, initiate various educational measures that will promote and logically substantiate this sacred goal, and also care that inter-Orthodox dialogue be exclusively peaceful and amicable, and about a firm response to provocative violations of religious legislation. It is important that the state not hinder Orthodox communities that have matured to the need to free themselves from Moscow's negative influence and have decided to join the building of a single local Church. Working to increase the popularity of the very idea of creating a united Ukrainian Church, it is best, obviously, to take as a model the spread of the Ukrainian language in the state, which grows stronger not so much from legislative arguments as from the creation of such conditions that involuntarily make it popular, desirable and necessary. \nFor its part, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Volyn Eparchy in particular express their readiness to cooperate in this direction with the authorities and to meet all Ukrainian Orthodox communities which, being in the Moscow or another jurisdiction, have matured to the understanding that for the spiritual development of our people and the independent Ukrainian state, a single local Ukrainian Orthodox Church with a Patriarch in Kyiv is urgently necessary today." \n