ROC: Guardians of church unity are being persecuted in Ukraine
Bishops' meeting of the Russian Orthodox Church. Photo: patriarchia.ru
On July 19, 2023, the participants of the Bishops' Conference of the Russian Orthodox Church stated that the Ukrainian authorities are persecuting the guardians of church unity, the patriarchia.ru website reports.
The final resolution states that “the reports that the clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are being made to renounce God’s truth and pushed into schism are particularly bitter.”
The participants of the Bishops’ Conference called for “an intense prayer for Orthodox brothers and sisters in Ukraine, for those who strive to preserve church unity despite threats, slander and persecution, and especially for those who show a truly confessional feat, courageously raising their voices in defense of this unity."
The hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church wished many years to Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshhorod and Chornobyl, who is now in prison, "and to all hierarchs-confessors who suffer criminal prosecution for their faith and the Church."
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church said whether it is possible to receive communion where he is not commemorated.
Read also
DESS: The number of communities joining OCU in 2024 is half of last year’s
Over a year, 232 communities of the UOC changed their jurisdiction.
Scale of internal damage to UOC cathedral in Zaporizhzhia shown online
The video allows viewers to assess the damage endured by the main Orthodox church of the UOC in Zaporizhzhia.
Ex-MP UOC protodeacon Novinsky declared suspicion of high treason
The former MP is accused of "ensuring that a significant part of Ukrainian society, who are believers of the UOC, remain under the direct influence of the leader of the ROC".
St Andrew’s icon survives under the rubble of UOC cathedral in Zaporizhzhia
The icon was painted by nuns of the St Nicholas Monastery in Patras (Greece) and consecrated on the relics of St Andrew the Apostle.
RF missile strike destroys St Andrew's Cathedral of UOC in Zaporizhzhia
The fragments damaged the roof of the building, dome, ceilings, cut windows and disfigured classrooms.
Media shows conditions in which persecuted communities of Volyn have to pray
After their churches were seized, UOC faithful are compelled to pray in poorly equipped facilities.