Another call for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to leave the Moscow Patriarchate was made following the shelling of the Lavra
The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience has once again called on the clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to leave the Moscow Patriarchate. The statement came after Russian shelling of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The agency emphasizes the need for a definitive break from institutional dependence on the Russian Orthodox Church.
“Russian invaders deliberately targeted the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra; the Assumption Cathedral was ablaze, and the shrine sustained severe damage. The illusions of those who hoped that the Russians would not shell the Lavra, that the relics of the Venerable Fathers of the Caves would be a ‘red line’ for them and that there are places that remain sacred even to Russian barbarians, who are steadily losing their human likeness—all these illusions were shattered on the night of June 15. “Appealing to the invaders’ conscience is futile,” the DESC statement reads.
In this regard, the State Ethnopolitics Agency once again calls on the hierarchy, clergy, monks and nuns, and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to withdraw from the Moscow Patriarchate.
“Just think: can an Orthodox Christian in any way be associated with an organization that directly calls for the destruction of us, Ukrainians of various ethnic origins, regardless of our views and beliefs? Has the time not come, in the fifth year of a full-scale war that the Moscow Patriarchate enthusiastically blesses and blasphemously glorifies, to say a decisive ‘no’ to it?
“Brothers and sisters, Ukrainians—faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church!” the agency added.
They emphasize that believers are being deceived when it is claimed that the Ukrainian state wants to confiscate churches and property.
“All that the Ukrainian state demands of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is to leave the Moscow Patriarchate, which wants to destroy us all. It is untrue that the state is demanding that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church become part of another Church; change the Julian calendar to the New Julian calendar; ban the Church Slavonic language; or betray old customs. You can see for yourselves where the evil lies—it no longer hides, but still hypocritically claims that it is coming to protect you,” the statement reads.
Earlier in Kharkiv, a city council employee was killed during a nighttime shelling
As a reminder, Russia attacked the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, causing a fire.
Prior to that, Russian KABs struck the Zaporizhzhia region, leaving several people wounded.
Five State Emergency Service rescuers were killed as a result of the Russian attack on Kharkiv.
