UOC spokesman: Believers are ready to take to streets to defend the Church
Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC. Photo: screenshot of the video of the First Cossack youtube channel.
Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, said in the Right to Faith program on the First Cossack youtube channel that parishioners are ready to take to the streets en masse to protest against the pressure of the authorities on the Church, but so far these impulses are being held back in parishes.
“We will defend our rights by all legal means. If the authorities stop their ears, we will take to the streets, a lot of people are ready to go out, if there is no progress from the state,” said the spokesman of the UOC. "People want it themselves; we even restrain them to some extent."
He noted that now the standard rules of interaction are flouted, and the reaction to this may be unpredictable. But there is hope for a peaceful solution to the problems if parishioners show their social and public position while protecting their Church. “If we were just a few, this would be one thing, but there are plenty of us, and we must use this multitude to defend our Church. Don't sit and wait for someone else to do it. The fate of our Church now depends on each of us,” Father Nikolai summed up.
As the UOJ reported, in case of pressure, the Church can react as in Montenegro, assures the UOC spokesman.
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.