Ternopol Regional Council urges MIA to ensure protection of Pochaev Lavra
Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra
The Ternopol Regional Council appealed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine with a request to provide 24-hour security of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra. The corresponding official statement was adopted at the session of the regional council on November 6, 2018, and posted on the website of the state institution.
In the appeal, the deputies express confidence that the decision to create the Single Ukrainian Orthodox Church will facilitate the interfaith and church-state dialogue in Ukraine and become an important step to ensure the rights, freedoms and religious needs of citizens.
“At the same time, within one step to the creation of the Single Ukrainian Orthodox Church, certain interested structures are trying to aggravate the contradictions between believers of Orthodox denominations, resorting to artificially fueling the religious situation and speculating about the legal identity of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra,” the text of the document says.
The deputies express concern regarding the appeal of the abbot of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra, Metropolitan Vladimir Moroz, who openly addressed the parishioners with a call to prepare for the physical defence of the shrine.
“Placing on the Internet and disseminating among citizens the misinformation about the plans to seize the cult object leads to a mass artificially created panic, which in the future may entail illegal activities,” the authors note.
The members of the regional council ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to organize 24-hour security of the shrine with the help of units of the National Guard of Ukraine in order to “increase the level of security of citizens in the territory of the Pochaev united territorial community and prevent bloodshed and violent seizure of the Pochaev Holy Dormition Lavra.”
In addition, the deputies ask the Prosecutor's Office to assess the illegal, in their opinion, transfer of 6 buildings of the Pochaev Lavra to the UOC.
In 2016, the Ternopol Regional Council requested the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, to take away the Pochaev Lavra from the UOC and return to it the status of a state reserve.
Earlier, the abbot of the Pochaev Monastery Metropolitan Vladimir has reported threats to the shrine, asked for prayer support, and called for the protection of the monastery, if necessary.
Read also
DESS challenges court ruling overturning “expert review” against UOC
According to DESS, it has filed a cassation appeal against the court ruling that annulled the order approving the UOC “expert review” and declared the service head’s actions unlawful.
Greek priest: Sad to see Orthodox Christians fighting each other in Ukraine
Fr. Georgios Katsaounis recalled the historical ties between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples and criticized the Greek Prime Minister’s statement about a “war with Russia.”
Anglican Archbishop: Ban on women's priesthood in RCC is an injustice
After her visit to the pontiff, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally touched on the topic of women's priesthood in the RCC in an interview and called the ban on it "an injustice."
Greek priest on Pope's visit to Phanar: faith must not be sold
Archpriest Georgios Katsaounis warned that in the modern ecumenical dialogue there are serious risks of diluting Orthodox dogmas.
Greek priest: The principle of papal supremacy in Catholicism is a disease
Archpriest Georgios Katsaounis stated that Western Christianity suffers from the principle of one person's supremacy, and called this a spiritual illness.
In Egypt, Coptic blogger sentenced to 5 years for videos about Christianity
A Coptic blogger was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor under a blasphemy law for publishing a video about Christianity.