Jerusalem hierarch: We strongly condemn seizures of UOC temples

Archbishop Theodosios of Sebastia. Photo: rusdm

Archbishop Theodosios of Sebastia said at a meeting with believers from different countries at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is being persecuted by the Ukrainian authorities, reports the resource Rusdm.

"We express our solidarity with His Eminence Metropolitan Onuphry and all the bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who are subjected to severe persecution while the Western world, which praises human rights, seeing and knowing this, takes no action. Western political authorities and their representatives in Ukraine seek to create an ecclesiastical structure alternative to the legitimate Church, but we do not recognise the canonicity of the structure imposed by the political leadership of Ukraine as an alternative to the legitimate Church headed by Metropolitan Onuphry," the hierarch said.

He stressed that the Jerusalem Church strongly condemns the seizures of churches and prison terms for UOC bishops.

"We believe that the Orthodox Church in Ukraine will defeat its enemies. This is not the first time the Church has been persecuted: its history is full of cruel persecutions, but in the end, it wins because the Lord Jesus Christ protects it and guards it against all evil, from enemies visible and invisible," concluded the Archbishop of Sebastia.

As earlier reported, the Polish Church Council criticised the Ukrainian authorities over the ban on the UOC.

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