ROCOR in America requests US authorities to protect UOC

Clergy of the Eastern American Diocese of ROCOR. Photo: eadiocese.org

On April 5, 2023, the clergy of the southern deaneries of the Eastern American Diocese of ROCOR appealed to the US Congress with a request to protect the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The diocese stated that they were especially praying “for our brothers and sisters of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church, headed by His Beatitude Onuphry, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine.”

The diocese also said that many ROCOR hierarchs in America have deep historical ties with the Kyiv-Pechersk and Pochaiv Lavra. “These connections make our pain and alarm over the Ukrainian government’s continued persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and her faithful deeply personal,” the priests wrote.

“We have watched as crowds have been allowed to harass, jeer, and even physically assault the faithful at the Kiev Caves Lavra who came to defend the brotherhood and the faculty and seminarians of the Kiev Theological Academy from unlawful eviction by the state,” the diocese said.

The document also noted, "We have also seen the many reports of increased forcible seizures of churches and persecution of the clergy and faithful by the schismatic followers of the so-called ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’ in many parts of the country".

The diocese also called the arrest of His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel, abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, "inexplicable and troubling."

“These actions and the attempted eviction from the Lavra by the Ukrainian government have drawn condemnation from almost all of the Local and Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, and we join our voices to theirs in entreating the Ukrainian authorities to change their course of action and allow the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to perform its spiritual functions in peace,” the ROCOR said.

At the same time, the Eastern American Diocese of ROCOR entreated the US Congress "to take the necessary actions within its power to safeguard the religious freedoms of the clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in the Lithuanian Orthodox Church they purely pray for the brethren of the Lavra and the entire UOC.

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