Priest on persecution of UOC: This is only possible in totalitarian states

Archpriest Oleksandr Klymenko. Photo: a screenshot of the priest's YouTube channel

When asked by a journalist about the reaction of the Local Churches to the events around the UOC, Archpriest Oleksandr Klymenko noted that they (Churches – Ed.) are coming to their senses after the news about the fight with the Church in Ukraine. The priest said this at a press conference held at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on December 15, 2022.

"For the European world of the last century this is nonsense, this is something unfamiliar neither in legal terms nor in state-religious relations. We understand that this could only happen in totalitarian states. And we see a dissonance between what our country declares in terms of European aspirations and what is actually happening," Fr Oleksandr added.

As reported, according to the expert, discrediting the UOC is contrary to Ukraine’s national interests.

Read also

In Amsterdam, Islamist group carries out terrorist attack at Jewish school

An explosion occurred at night at a Jewish school in the capital of the Netherlands.

Amsterdam comments on secret letter by Phanar hierarch

The lawyer described Archbishop Elpidophoros’s actions as “political games in support of religious intolerance.”

Prosecutors in Ternopil region seek return of OCU shrine to state ownership

Through the courts, prosecutors have demanded that the state save the cells of an eighteenth-century monastery which OCU parishioners are unable to maintain properly.

In London, Zaluzhny discusses "our resilience" with UCCRO delegation

In the British capital, the Ukrainian ambassador received religious figures from the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations.

Monastic tonsure performed at Khmelnytskyi Eparchy monastery

Metropolitan Victor tonsured two sisters of the monastery in Zavaliiky into monasticism.

Patriarch of Serbia urges world leaders to protect Serbs in Kosovo

The Primate of the Serbian Church called on the heads of world powers to stop the expulsion of believers from Kosovo and protect more than a thousand Orthodox shrines from destruction.