The seizures of churches by Uniates will lead to a religious war in Ukraine, – Archbishop Theodosius

According to Archbishop Theodosius of Boyarka, the publication by the priest of the UGCC of the list of "unreturned Uniate churches" can serve as the beginning of a religious war, reports "Argumenty i Fakty".

"This is a prologue to the total religious war in Ukraine, which is much more cruel and bloody than the one that was already sparked in this region in the early 1990s. Only now the whole country can flare up."

According to Vladyka, the trigger of such a war could be the adoption of bill No. 4128, which, according to experts, will facilitate raider seizure of church property.

"And if the representatives of the UGCC are so worried about the restoration of "historical justice, "why do they feel outraged about the statements by the Primate of the Catholics of the Latin rite of Ukraine, Mechislav Mokshitsky, demanding the return of the churches taken by the Uniates? says the archbishop. "Why don’t they start with the most obvious – the return to the UOC of those temples which have been built by the Orthodox and which are now used by the Uniates? Take, for example, the St. Nicholas Church on Askold's grave in Kiev."

Vladyka Theodosius also believes that the leadership of the UGCC cannot fail to understand the dangers of such statements of its adherents. "But, nevertheless, it has not denied anything yet," he says. "Although it does not agree with the calls for "peace" and "dialogue", increasingly voiced by the leader of the UGCC. What is this? Inconsequence of actions? Double standards? Or, in addition to all our troubles, does anyone want to play a religious card on blood?"

The UOC-KP also acknowledged the seizure of the Orthodox church in Kolomyia by "Greek Catholic activists" and called to prevent "a return to the end of the 1980s – the beginning of the 1990s, when the question of the ownership of temples in Galicia was often solved by force." At the same time, Eustratii Zoria called the announcement of the facts of the aggression against the UOC "grist to the mill of the Kremlin propaganda."