Ukrainian envoy in Constantinople seeking autocephaly

Kyiv, April 20 (Interfax) - Deputy Ukrainian Presidential Chief of Staff has left for Istanbul to deliver a request to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on issuing a tomos (ordinance) to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko said.

"Deputy presidential chief of staff Rostislav Pavlenko is currently in Istanbul. I won't waste a single day, we will deliver [the request]," Poroshenko told journalists while on a working trip to Lvov on Friday.

Asked how likely it is that a tomos will be issued, Poroshenko said, "Anything can happen, but I am absolutely convinced that everything is God's will."