Expert: If believers protested, there would be no anti-church laws
Ruslan Bortnik. Photo: persona.top
Ruslan Bortnik, Director of the Ukrainian Institute for Policy Analysis and Management, on the air of the Right to Faith program on First Cossack youtube channel, said that if believers actively protested, there would be no anti-church actions from the authorities.
Ruslan Bortnik commented on the words of the host of the program, Yan Taksiur, who said that now more and more speakers of the UOC begin to talk about the experience of believers in Montenegro, where up to half of the country's population attended religious processions, and as a result, the anti-church bill was abolished.
“If people who want to honor the memory of the Great Patriotic War (WWII – Ed.), who want to speak their native language and go to churches they believe right for themselves, would go to protests and rallies, none of this would have happened (adoption of anti-church laws in Ukraine – Ed.)," said Bortnik.
“Once the public enemies are exhausted, sooner or later they will come for you, they will go from door to door. If you want to live a normal life, take an active political position. If you are afraid to like on Facebook, what are you hoping for?” he added.
As the UOJ previously reported, Metropolitan Varsonofy told the youth about the history of the UOC and the current persecution.
Read also
U.S. bishops call for Church unity on Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
The Assembly of Bishops of the USA has issued an encyclical for the Triumph of Orthodoxy on Church unity, veneration of icons, and support for pan-Orthodox ministry.
OCU organizes harassment of businessman for aiding UOC
Hryshchuk called for boycotting the business of the entrepreneur who built a UOC church in the Rivne region.
Head of Lavra Reserve: I believe UOC monks will move to the OCU
Ostapenko said there are 140 UOC monks and novices on the territory of the Lower Lavra.
"Shield of Judah": Biblical name given to operations against Iran
A joint Israeli–US military operation against Iran has received a code name referencing the biblical forefather of the Jewish royal line.
In Syria, Islamic militants behead statues of Christ and Virgin Mary
Vandals beheaded statues of the Lord and the Mother of God at the entrance to the "Cave of the Virgin Mary" in the village of Al-Basiya near the coastal city of Banias in Syria.
Icon with particle of Gabriel Urgebadze's relics to be brought to Uzhhorod from Georgia
The holy icon, painted in Georgia, will be brought to the Holy Trinity Church of the Mukachevo Eparchy of the UOC.