Hierarch: Authorities pretend not to hear about UOC's patriotic stance

KDAiS rector, Archbishop Sylvester. Photo: raskolam.net

Government officials ignore numerous pieces of evidence that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has no ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and occupies an unambiguous patriotic position, said the rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary, Archbishop Silvester of Bilohorodka, in an interview with foreign media.

He recalled that on the very first day of the war, the UOC through the mouth of its Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, condemned the Russian aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine.

"The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has always taken a patriotic stance and stayed with its people," Archbishop Silvester said. “I will not enumerate how much the Church has done to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as those who have been left homeless and destitute. The famous May Council of the UOC, which was held in Feofaniya, clearly declared its disassociation from the Moscow Patriarchate, and this has been repeatedly stated by different spokespersons for the Church at different levels. Why some representatives of the state do not hear this or pretend not to understand is a different matter.

The bishop stressed that constant accusations of non-existent ties with the Moscow Patriarchate are part of the system of "myths and propaganda which, unfortunately, are created in order to humiliate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and put it in a bad situation in every possible way”.

As reported, Archbishop Silvester said that the UOC will defend its rights to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra not only in Ukrainian but also in European courts.

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