Met. Clement on Tithes demolition: Authorities are planting Lenin's ideas

Metropolitan Clement (Vecheria). Photo: the Nizhyn Eparchy’s press service

The head of the UOC Synodal Information and Education Department of the UOC, Metropolitan Clement (Vecheria), commented to Strana.ua on the decision of the Economic Court of February 15, 2023, to demolish the Tithe Monastery of the UOC and called the ongoing events "an affront to Ukrainian Orthodox Christians.

Metropolitan Clement of Nizhyn and Priluky compared what is happening in Ukraine to the Lenin era of the USSR.

"Observing the latest actions of the state in the religious sphere, it is clear that there are some forces in power, which in the 32nd year of independence of Ukraine, only cover themselves with the renaming of Lenin streets as a fig leaf. In reality, they are planting Leninist ideas of anti-religion in modern Ukraine with photocopied precision. First, these people turn the Lavra temples into a place for concerts. And today they propose to demolish the church altogether," the archbishop said.

The Metropolitan said that the court did not answer the question of what would have to be done with those who pray in this temple, although history, according to Metropolitan Clement, knows the answer to this question.

"There has already been a period when we started with the destruction of churches and ended with atheistic terror and mass repression against the faithful. Nothing new is going to happen. The government's actions to close and destroy churches is an open affront to Ukrainian Orthodox Christians, whose religious beliefs are going to be trampled by the most disgusting Soviet methods," summed up Metropolitan Clement.

As reported, on 15 February, the Economic Court satisfied a lawsuit filed by the National Museum of History of Ukraine and a representative of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and ruled to demolish the Tithe Monastery of the UOC.

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