Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia believes that all Orthodox in Ukraine, including those who have strayed into schism, are children of the Russian Orthodox Church, Interfax writes.
“Everything that concerns the Donbass, the Lugansk region, the Kharkiv region – those places where people suffer today – worries me very much and hurts my heart, because all the Orthodox people who live there are children of the Moscow Patriarchate. Someone recognizes this , joyfully confesses and participates in the life of our Church, someone has taken the path of illegal schismatic separation from our Church, but God is a judge for everyone, and for the patriarch, all Orthodox in Ukraine are his children, close to his heart,” said Patriarch Kirill .
The Patriarch noted that the Russian Church is present in more than 60 countries of the world, on almost all continents. “Malignant people, including in Ukraine, sometimes claim that this Church is only for Russians, for “Muscovites,” but this is not at all true! but the percentages do not reflect the spiritual contribution of people to the life of the Church.”
