Miriane: Believers no longer wish to be silent about crimes against Church

Believers of the UOC at the Office of the President in Kyiv, 15.06.21. Photo: t.me/upc_news

Believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are no longer willing to silently take in the developments and let their Church and their temples be mauled. Vladimir Filippov, a board member of the “Miriane” public organization, said this at the round table "The Basic Law of Ukraine and its Application to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church", which took place in Kyiv on June 30, 2021.

“In the pro-government corridors, when they talked about us, the laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, there was such a term – the silent majority,” he noted. "It was because until today we have endured all these persecutions in silence, without explicit discontent, and have never spoken up our position."

The representative of "Miriane" added that at the same time one could see an aggressive minority force the president of the country to change his policy when "some 100 people came to the Rada and shouted something."

“What happened on June 15 only confirmed that today the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – laity, ordinary people – are no longer willing to silently take in the situation at hand and to simply let their Church, their parishes, their temples and their priests be mauled,” stressed Vladimir Filippov.

He added that the “Miriane” organization does not represent the institutions of the Church, but an association of people who are not priests, but believers, and “we are ready to meet with the President or whoever it may concern, we are ready to engage in dialogue and explain our position, since there are really millions of us in Ukraine. These are millions of Ukrainian citizens who will never betray their faith, no matter what the authorities undertake, and no matter how much our Church and Her faithful are defamed."

As reported by the UOJ, the "Miriane" called on the Ukrainian authorities to strictly observe the Constitution.

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