The Holy Synod thanks Local Churches for supporting UOC
Session of the Holy Synod of the UOC. Photo: news.church.ua
On December 26, 2023, the Holy Synod expressed gratitude to representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches for the support they provide amid pressure from Ukrainian authorities on the UOC. This was reported by the UOC press service.
The Synod noted that representatives of the Local Churches had repeatedly expressed their support for the UOC, its Primate His Beatitude Onuphry, and the hierarchs persecuted by the Ukrainian authorities.
In particular, letters of support were received by the Kyiv Metropolis from Patriarch John X of Antioch and the Holy Synod of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia and the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and the Synod of Bishops of the Polish Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Rostislav of the Czech Lands and the Holy Synod of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada, as well as hierarchs of the Jerusalem, Bulgarian, Serbian Churches, the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands, and many others.
"The primates and hierarchs of the Local Churches have repeatedly addressed with relevant letters …> in connection with pressure on the episcopate, clergy, monastics, and believers of the UOC by the state authorities, the initiation of criminal cases against them, and the possible adoption of unconstitutional laws against our Church," the UOC reported.
As previously reported by the UOJ, the UOC Synod stated that criminal cases against hierarchs have a dubious nature.
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