Primate of Belarusian Church calls on President of Ukraine to defend believers’ rights

"On behalf of the Synod of the Belarusian Exarchate, the clergy and the numerous flock of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, residents of the Republic of Belarus, I appeal to you, the guarantor of the Constitution of Ukraine, the rights and freedoms of the person and citizen entrusted to your country's leadership, with a request to stand up for the rights and freedom of creed of the Ukrainian people.

Bills No. 4128 and No. 4511, if adopted, will serve as the basis for the unprecedented in the life of the modern civilized human community oppression of the constitutional rights and freedoms of millions of Ukrainian citizens, flagrant discrimination of the overwhelming majority of the country's population on the basis of its membership in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, the clergy and believers in Belarus express their deepest concern over the upcoming consideration in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine bills No. 4128 and No. 4511 on 18 May 2017.

Archpastors, clergymen, monastics and laymen, children of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, we all respectfully appeal to you, the Head of the Ukrainian state, to speak out in defense of the constitutional right of the Ukrainian people to freedom of religion and withdraw from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine bills No. 4128 and No. 4511.

The Belarusian Orthodox Church, in defense of peace, justice and common sense, in defense of its Ukrainian brethren by faith, condemns the initiative on the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of draft laws No. 4128 and No. 4511. If the said bills are adopted, this could plunge Ukraine into the chaos of an unparalleled civil war on the ground of religious persecution and repression against Ukrainian Orthodoxy," the message says.

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