UOC cleric: Separatism is when Kiev Patriarchate grabs temples from believers

Illegal seizures of the UOC temples committed by the Kiev Patriarchate are an outspoken separatism. It was said by rector of Kiev-based temple of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Archimandrite Alipiy (Svetlichnyi) in the live program with NewsOne.

"The Kyiv Patriarchate takes Orthodox churches from people and says: this is mine. For what reason? This is overt separatism. It is very sad that all kinds of betrayal are encouraged now. When Filaret made a split, one general said to me: "I do not understand anything in your church affairs, but the fact that Filaret betrayed his Church says a lot to me, I will never go there."

I can talk about our congregation. We haven’t lost parishioners – we have got a lot more people instead. Moreover, even in the summer, when practically no one goes to church. This year the church is full at every service, thank God. I talked with the clergy of Kiev and Kiev region – this year there were many more people at Easter than in past years.

People more and more openly can talk about peace; they miss it indeed. The media are artificially fueling the war. But people, grassroots, ordinary people want first of all peace. Those, who just recently said that we need to fight, now say we need to look for the possibility of reconciliation. Such an opportunity exists – and we pray for this," the clergyman said.