His All Holiness BARTHOLOMEW I
Archbishop Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

Kyiv, 21 January, 2005

Your Holiness,

We have gladly received Your congratulation to my election as the President of Ukraine.

We are very grateful to You and in Your person to the Mother-Church from which are people adopted Christianity in the year 988, – for Your prayers benediction and kind wishes directed to me and the long-suffering Ukrainian Nation that has firmly chosen the way for democracy.

Ukrainian people crave for life by the divine truth, in the world of well-being and freedom for all citizens of Ukraine.

We also appreciate your readiness to take part in adjustment of problems inside the Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Our people want to have the United Ukrainian Orthodox Church in their State.

I would like to invite You personally, as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, to take part in my inauguration that will take place in Kyiv, on January 23, 2005

I beg for Your holy prayers

Yours Faithfully
Viktor Yuschenko
President of Ukraine