OCU: communities wishing to transfer are under pressure and intimidation
Statements about the seizure of UOC temples are a lie, and those communities that want to move to a new “church” are under real pressure, say members of the OCU “Synod”.
Some structures and “supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate” exert pressure and intimidate those communities that want to leave the jurisdiction of the UOC, while also spreading false information about the persecution against them themselves, the members of the OCU Synod state on the website of the new church structure.
“Many communities are ready to use the legal right to change jurisdiction, face moral and even coercive pressure, intimidation from structures and supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate,” complained the hierarchs of the OCU. “At the same time, these very structures spread false information, accusing the parishioners of “seizing” temples, although in fact temples remain at the disposal of a particular religious community that voluntarily changes its jurisdiction.”
According to the “Synod” of the new “church,” along with fake statements about the oppression of the UOC, Russian church and state leaders are silent about the “numerous facts of real persecution”. As an example, the authors of the appeal mention the arrest of a citizen of the Russian Federation, the “archbishop” of the UOC-KP Clement Kusch, who was accused of stealing church property.
At the same time, the members of the “Synod” assure that their newly created church structure, which is the “canonical territory of the Ecumenical Patriarchate”, seeks to have understanding and fraternal communication with the “Russian Church”.
The OCU hierarchs declared that no one has the right to doubt their legitimacy since the Tomos of autocephaly is a “canonical act of the Ecumenical Patriarchate”.
“The objections that are expressed in relation to such an order [granting autocephaly to the OCU, – Ed.] aimed at questioning the very right of the Ecumenical Patriarch to independently bestow the Tomos of autocephaly to the Local UOC are unfounded,” the authors of the appeal tried to convince the public.
The members of the “Synod” of the new church structure also appealed to international human rights organizations with a request to protect their “persecuted” fellow believers.
Contrary to the assurances of the “clergy” of the OCU that nobody oppresses the clergy and laity of the canonical Church in our country, the world community is already informed of what is happening in the religious life of Ukraine. For example, the current Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović said during a meeting with the head of the UOC Representative Office to the European international organizations Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka that she was partially apprised of the human rights violations in Ukraine caused by interfaith confrontation.
The allegedly non-existent persecutions of clergymen and parishioners of the UOC are reported to the US Congress by the the vicar of the Kiev Metropolis Bishop Gedeon (Kharon) of Makarov. As soon as he returned from a trip to America, he was deported from Ukraine.
