German religious scholar and sociology expert Nikolay Mitrokhin commented on the criminal persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s episcopate. The expert believes that the reason for the aggressive actions of the Ukrainian authorities against the episcopate and clergy is their resistance to the repressions that the state authorities are organizing against the Church. Mitrokhin said this during a theological consultation held in Rome on April 27, 2024, Baznica.info reported.

“The most important innovation is a series of criminal cases against major figures in the church, who are obviously punished for activities of organized resistance to the repression carried out by the SBU, DESS and others. At the moment we have a case against Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy, who protested against the seizure of a monastery on the territory of the Cherkasy diocese by supporters of the OCU. A case has been opened against him”, – the expert said.

Mitrokhin cited examples of prosecution of Metropolitans Arseniy, Theodosiy, Longin and other hierarchs of the UOC, who, according to the sociologist, are being tried for fighting back against illegal actions of the Ukrainian authorities against the Church.

It is worth noting that state-church relations in Ukraine are one of the subjects of Nikolai Mitrokhin’s research as an international expert in this field. Earlier we reported that Mykola Mitrokhin compared the methods of the Ukrainian government’s fight against the UOC with repressive measures against the Church during the Soviet era.