Twitter Backlash at President’s Comments on Ukraine Church Independence

Salome Zourabichvili has been criticized on twitter for her comments regarding the independence of the Ukrainian church.

The Ukrainian church gained independence from Moscow. It had been under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate since 1686. The move is a big loss to Moscow, as they could potentially lose a fifth of their 150 million Orthodox Christians currently under their authority.

“Individually, it would be easy to congratulate#Ukrainians over their Church's independence, all natural considering our own past, but as President, I have a big responsibility to bear. If our Patriarchate is cautious due to some consequences, I cannot aggravate the situation” tweeted Zourabichvili on 15 January.

Zourabichvili has been criticized for not congratulating the Ukrainian church. Many comments on twitter claim she has shamed Georgia by not supporting their independence and that she is supporting Russia.

“This is very embarrassing and disappointing, dear president!” read one tweet from Giorgi Tabagari, a LGBT activist in Georgia.

Others criticized her lack of autonomy. “You are the foreign policy actor, not the church” read another tweet.

by Amy Jones 

Photo source: Wikipedia