Remaining faithful to the canonical Church, the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church defend the future of the Orthodox faith in their native land. This was stated by the managing director of the UOC, Metropolitan Boryspolsky and Brovarskoy Anthony (Pakanich), referring to the participants in the congress of representatives of the parishes of the seized churches, which took place in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, “Vzglyad” reports.
“Our position in relation to the autocephalous adventure of Patriarch Bartholomew is dictated not only by rejection of violation of the canons and legalization of the schism. Everything is much deeper. Defending our rights, defending our churches, remaining faithful to the canonical Church, we defend the future of the Orthodox faith in our native land. It is not excluded that the path that those who support the schism are blazing has as its final stage the absorption of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, ”noted the head of the UOC.
The bishop stressed that the desire to remain in the bosom of the Church, and not political or geopolitical interests, should be the core of the life path of every believer.
“The Holy Synod and the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have repeatedly appealed to the President of Ukraine and other high-ranking statesmen with an appeal to do everything possible to end discrimination against the canonical Church and her flock.
Through the necessary legal procedures, the scandalous law on the so-called renaming of religious organizations was blocked through the courts, with the help of which they wanted to take away its official name from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and create conditions for a large-scale raider seizure of churches. Also, one of the initiatives was the functioning of a telephone hotline of the Legal Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to promptly record cases of crimes and ensure a further qualified response to them, ”said Metropolitan Anthony.
Active work is also carried out at the international level. The facts of violations of the rights of believers of the UOC were constantly voiced and voiced at reputable international platforms: UN and OSCE conferences on human rights.
The bishop thanked the faithful of the captured churches of the UOC for the fact that “not in word, but in deed, prayer and sacrificial deed, they showed their faithfulness to God and the Orthodox faith.”