Parishioners of UOC unite in organization to defend their faith and values

The Cross procession of the UOC in Kyiv. Photo: UOJ

The Public Union "Miriane" (“Laity”), a large-scale project designed to unite active believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who are not indifferent to the future of the country and the Church, has appeared in Ukraine. 

“Today we live in a world where often under the light ideas there are dark intentions to pervert basic human needs and values. Western ideology, alien to traditional Ukrainian culture, under the pretext of combating gender inequality and any discrimination, imposes on us the acceptance of non-traditional sexual orientation, same-sex marriage and total sexual promiscuity. We will explain in a detailed and clear way how this is done, and how to protect ourselves and loved ones from this, but most importantly, we will provide an informational alternative with our educational and creative initiatives.

We, the laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, want to protect our world, our families, our children from this mayhem of immorality and spiritual decay. And we must protect! How? It's very simple: by uniting and taking an active position – for our faith, for our values, for our Church. If these words resonate in your heart – we are waiting for you!" reads the message on the page of the project "Miriane" on Facebook.

The Internet platform “Miriane” will develop in a number of areas:

• Education: an opportunity to gain knowledge about the Orthodox faith and access to the most modern educational programmes in a convenient and familiar format for Internet users – adults and children; online courses, webinars, access to educational literature (humanities and natural sciences, history, rhetoric, Divine law and theology from the best teachers).
• Creativity: creation of a variety of video content that will answer the most important questions: "Who are we and where are we going?"; coverage of acute social topics, creation and organization of thematic events.
• Important news: promptly informing about events and processes important for the laity in the public and church life of the country and the world.
• Protecting rights and values: A 24/7 coordination centre where believers join forces to defend their rights and promote change in society and state at all levels, from local to national.
• Urgent legal assistance for the laity and clergy: a convenient catalogue of action algorithms and forms of official documents for typical situations, a question-and-answer text online consultation service, comprehensive support for difficult cases.

The initiator of the project and the head of the NGO "Miriane", journalist and Orthodox believer Vasily Makarovsky, invites all like-minded people to join and send their ideas.

“You don't need to be a journalist to see what is happening around our Church, when various politicians and journalists come up with more and more lies about our Church, pour dirt on it, make up anti-church laws. <...> You can talk about it for a long time in the kitchen or write angry posts on Facebook, but isn't it time for us to change something? We must take responsibility for our future, for the future of our children, otherwise it will be done by someone else.

The ‘Miriane’ project will unite all active Orthodox Christians in Ukraine who are ready to defend their faith, their values and their future. Join, get involved in the work with your ideas and your participation. Someone thinks that we are not there, or we just fell asleep. Let's show that they were wrong. Time to wake up!" emphasized Vasily Makarovsky in his video message.

Everyone who is interested in the project is invited to subscribe to “Miriane” pages on social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Telegram), as well as share their ideas by phone +380684009759 or e-mail: info@mirane.org.

“’Miriane’ is not only an online project. This is not only social media pages and messenger channels. "Miriane" are you and me. If these words resonate in your heart – we are waiting for you! Call us, write, send ideas, join us. We are waiting for activists!" the Public Union "Miriane" calls on the faithful.

Everyone who is interested in the project is invited to subscribe to “Miriane” pages on social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Telegram), as well as share their ideas by phone +380684009759 or e-mail: info@mirane.org.

“’Miriane’ is not only an online project. This is not only social media pages and messenger channels. "Miriane" are you and me. If these words resonate in your heart – we are waiting for you! Call us, write, send ideas, join us. We are waiting for activists!" the Public Union "Miriane" calls on the faithful.

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