Patriarch Filaret also said that by joining the European Union, Ukraine could re-inspire spirituality in Europeans. He was elected to head the Kiev Patriarchate - which is not recognized by any other Eastern Orthodox church - in 1995 and was later excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church,
"We can borrow much from the EU, for example democracy and modern technologies. At the same time Ukraine can give something to Europe, namely spirituality, which European countries are catastrophically losing," Filaret told a new conference in Chernovtsy on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the west Ukrainian town.
"Ukraine must also join NATO because we need to secure ourselves after abandoning nuclear weapons, and considering recent international developments, our territorial integrity may be jeopardized by Russia," Filaret said.
However, he added he was not planning to somehow influence Ukraine's geopolitical choice. "It is down to politicians to decide on EU and NATO accession."
A path towards joining the EU and NATO has been a main plank of President Viktor Yushchenko's foreign policy. Polling shows most Ukrainians oppose joining NATO.
Filaret said he was convinced the Kiev Patriarchate would soon be recognized as canonical and pinned his hopes on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
Bartholomew I visited Ukraine last summer to attend celebrations on the 1020th anniversary of the Christianization of Kievan Rus. He made no statements as to whether the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate should be recognized, but said the country had the right to have a national church.
Ukrainian Orthodoxy split in three trying to resolve that issue, with Ukraine's Moscow Patriarchate becoming a self-governing but subservient part of the Russian Orthodox Church, which remains the largest church in Ukraine with 10,000 parishes.
The Kiev Patriarchate has trebled in the past 10 years and has about 4,000 parishes and 41 dioceses, while the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, centered in Western Ukraine, has five dioceses.
The current status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was determined by the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of October 25-27, 1990, but following Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, self-governance became insufficient for Filaret, who split with the Moscow Patriarchate.
