Prayerful standing in defence of canonical Orthodoxy held in Kiev

Believers held a peaceful prayerful standing at the Verkhovna Rada

"The UOC is our Holy Mother" and "The sin of schism is not washed away with blood."

With such picket signs, UOC believers from Western Ukraine gathered on Monday for prayer under the building in the centre of the capital, where, according to sources, is the residence of the exarchs of the Constantinople Patriarchate. They present those eparchies which suffer most from inter-faith conflicts, seizures of churches and other negative implications of the schism and the arbitrariness of certain organizations and officials.

According to one of the believers from the scene, this is a purely peaceful prayerful action, which should remind foreign envoys about the position of Orthodox people in Ukraine and the responsibility that legates from Istanbul take on themselves.

“We gathered for a peaceful prayerful standing. We pray that the Lord will reason with the representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” said Protopriest Alexander from the church of St. Joasaph of Belgorod in Kiev.

He explained that the exarchs are not in their canonical territory, and the believers are praying to find a solution that does not divide Orthodoxy.

“The state wants to build its own Church, which will be under its control and benefit the state... And the Church is out of politics,” the clergyman added.

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