UOC spokesman urges the laity to come to power to defend the Church

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC. Photo: pravlife.org

"There are lots of opponents of our Church in the religious environment, not defenders." It is necessary that the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church be represented in power to defend it from attacks. This was stated by the Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, on the air of the TV channel "First Cossack".

Archpriest Nikolai commented on the newly created structure of the Secretariat for Religion, led by Andrei Yurash, within the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine: “He has caused a lot of problems not only to our Church, but to the Ukrainian people in general. All the conflicts that arose in the West of Ukraine, for the most part, are on his conscience."

Archpriest Nikolai believes that the fact of Yurash's return to state structures should push the laity to more actively go into power to protect the Church.

“It is clear that we cannot interfere in the affairs of state administration, but I think that such actions and such facts are another incentive for our laity to go to government bodies, including those dealing with the state-church relations,” the UOC spokesman upheld.

He also noted that the current historical period is distinctive in view of the right to vote given to people. It means something depends on them. While in ancient times it was the emperor or the king who used to decide, now the commoners can decide from to time to time. “Previously, people were not asked, but now they are asked,” he says. “If you are asked – then answer, go ahead!"

Archpriest Nikolai recalled that power used to be passed down from one aristocrat to another aristocrat, while whoever was born a peasant remained so. Now is a different time: a person can be born in a village but can become a president. “This moment must be taken advantage of,” concluded the priest.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the UOC had commented on the authorities' idea of  "weekend quarantine".

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