UOC hierarch comments on possibility of authorities striking the Church

Metropolitan Clement of Nizhyn and Pryluky. Photo: news.church.ua

The head of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Clement of Nizhyn and Pryluky, commented to Strana on reports from various sources in church and government circles that the authorities are going to strike a blow against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Thus, according to sources in the publication, the authorities are going to step up work on the implementation of the discriminatory law on the forced renaming of the Church, as well as to try to take away the Kyiv-Pechersk and Pochayiv Lavra.

Regarding the authorities' plans to implement the scandalous law, the metropolitan noted that there is no direct information about this in the Church, but there are similar fears in the religious environment, which have "escalated due to Alexei Reznikov's recent ill-considered statements and his latest legislative initiatives."

As for the Lavras, the need to take them away from the UOC is "often voiced by marginals who call themselves nationalists" and, in Bishop Clement's opinion, "it is more of common epatage for them than real goals."

"But given that there are growing reports by the press that these radical nationalists are overseen by the state security forces, then, of course, their threats cannot be discarded," he added.

The hierarch stated that in almost all periods of recent history the authorities wanted to influence the Church to one degree or another in order to "make it a mouthpiece for voicing their political ideas," and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has repeatedly been threatened with confiscation, prohibition, abolition, etc."

"But if we look at all the cases when the government chose for itself the path of open confrontation with the UOC, we will immediately notice that this was a sign of its looming political catastrophe," Metropolitan Clement reminded. “It was the case in Yushchenko's time and before the end of Poroshenko’s rule. These are some obvious things. The UOC, despite all the efforts of its enemies, remains the largest religious organization in our country."

According to him, UOC believers are defenseless in a secular sense of the word, because in Ukraine they "cannot fully rely on being protected by the court or law enforcement agencies," and this often tempts politicians.

“But politicians, being mostly unbelievers or low-church people, overlook the main church factor – God. It was He who saved the Church even from Stalin's terror. Therefore, those who are eager to fight our Church will have to surpass such a historical figure like Stalin.

Our Church has already experienced a lot from the authorities in recent decades. No one has been punished for beating our believers, let alone insulting or discriminating. No one compensated for the material damage caused by the actions of the radicals. But our faith is our strength. God always helps us. Look at the statistics: where our temples have been taken away, local church communities have built new temples, even better ones. As regards the seized temples, more and more of them get locked – there is no one to pray, because they were not seized for prayer, but for gross political PR,” the head of the UOC's Information and Education Department summed up.

We will remind, earlier the Legal Department of the UOC gave an expanded assessment to the statement of the OCU "Synod", urging the international partners to prevent the renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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