UOC believers are urged to testify to their faith before Phanar head
UOC believers near the Verkhovna Rada, 15.06.21. Photo: t.me/upc_news
The NGO “Miriane” (“Laity”) calls on the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to come on August 21, 2021, at 9:00 am to the building of the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv to pray together to overcome the schism and to meet with Patriarch Bartholomew.
“The Patriarch of Constantinople must understand that his idea of the Ukrainian church situation has nothing to do with reality. That we are Ukrainians with Ukrainian passports, and not the ROCiU (Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine – Ed.), ‘FSB agents’ or a marginal ‘non-existent church’ as he now calls us. That we are a huge canonical Church that has stood on our land for 1033 years. That our Primate, His Beatitude Onuphry, is the legitimate Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, and not a ‘Russian hierarch in Ukraine’,” the NGO “Miriane” notes on its TG channel.
Representatives of those religious communities whose temples are seized by OCU supporters and radicals are especially asked to come.
The UOC faithful believe that communication with parishioners who have suffered from church raiding "will be especially interesting and informative for Patriarch Bartholomew".
If the head of the Phanar does not dare to meet, then this “will also be a clear answer both to us, millions of Orthodox Christians of the UOC, and the entire Orthodox world".
As reported, UOC believers wrote a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew asking for a meeting if he comes to Ukraine.
Read also
Middle East Council of Churches calls for protection of Christians in the region
Christian churches in the Middle East warned of growing threats to the region’s Christian communities and a worsening humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, urging the international community to step up support.
Albanian Archbishop: First in Orthodoxy does not mean supreme
The head of the Albanian Church spoke to UOJ about Orthodox unity, the limits of national identity, and the role of humility in Orthodoxy’s witness to the world.
Poland begins phasing out social benefits for Ukrainian refugees
A new law has taken effect in Poland providing for a gradual reduction in social benefits and some other support measures introduced for Ukrainian refugees after 2022.
Metropolitan Arseniy unable to attend court hearing due to hospitalization
The abbot of the Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra was absent from a hearing at the Checheliv District Court in Dnipro as he is undergoing inpatient medical examinations at a clinic in Kyiv.
Lawsuit сlaims Google’s Gemini AI drove man to suicide
In the United States, the father of a 36-year-old man has filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming the Gemini AI chatbot pushed his son toward suicide.
Court orders release of Armenian Church chancellery head
An appeals court in Yerevan has overturned the archbishop’s detention in a case widely described as politically motivated.