“We pray for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and help the terrorist defense” - the UOC begs Zelensky to stop the persecution
The UOC continues to bend over backwards to Ukrainian nationalists, hoping for preferences and protection from the authorities.
The open appeal of Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky leads to this conclusion, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Metropolitan Anthony recalled that the UOC prays daily for the Ukrainian army and the integrity of Ukraine, and also that the parishes and monasteries of the diocese help refugees, the military and the defense. However, the priest laments, at the same time there are forces within the state that “deliberately undermine the situation on religious grounds.”
He said that only recently deputies of individual local councils made decisions to ban religious organizations of the UOC.
“In the Kyiv region, today such decisions were made by the Brovary City Council - 06.05.2022/19.05.2022/29.05.2022; Pereyaslavl City and Metropolitan Village Council - 13.06.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX; Novopetrovsk village council - XNUMX/XNUMX/XNUMX. On June XNUMX, XNUMX, the decision to suspend the activities of religious communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was made by the Boryspil city council of the Kyiv region,” Anthony writes in the appeal.
He was especially outraged that since the decisions were made unanimously, it means that deputies of Zelensky’s “Servant of the People” party also voted for it, for which believers, among others, voted in the Kyiv region.
“This is incomprehensible, since we know your position on the need to maintain peace and stability within the country in order to ensure victory over the external enemy. Believers of the Boryspil diocese of the UOC, like other voters in the Kiev region, voted in the elections to local councils mainly for the Servant of the People party, hoping for the observance of our constitutional rights and freedoms, including the free exercise of their Orthodox faith,” he complained Metropolitan
At the same time, he added that the practice of seizing Orthodox churches introduced by the previous government has not disappeared.
“The initiators of holding a meeting on the “transition” of religious communities are often the chairmen of UTCs, city mayors, village elders and representatives of local territorial defense. At the same time, the opinions of members of the religious community are not taken into account; people who have nothing to do with the religious community vote for the transition.
There is direct interference by representatives of state authorities and local self-government in the activities of religious communities of the Boryspil diocese of the UOC.
All these illegal actions are being taken with the assistance of officials of state authorities and local self-government in favor of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” formed in December 2018,” the appeal says.
According to him, such outrages only outrage religious citizens and “contribute to destabilizing the situation within the country during the war.”
“Our believers defend the state with arms in hand and work to restore the country. And at the same time, behind their backs, false patriots are taking away Orthodox churches, beating and intimidating believers.
Today, violations of the rights of believers of the Boryspil diocese of the UOC to freedom of religion have become widespread. The situation requires your immediate intervention in order to maintain peace and stability in the state,” writes Metropolitan Anthony.
“We ask you, dear Vladimir Aleksandrovich, to protect the constitutional rights of citizens of Ukraine - believers of the Boryspil diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to stop religious hostility in Ukrainian society and to take the necessary measures against lawless actions,” - the metropolitan is humiliated in open address.
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