Bulgarian expert: Ukraine – a testing ground for global Church persecution
Bulgarian journalist and translator Andrey Romanov. Photo: UOJ
In Ukraine, technologies for judicial, legal, and media persecution of the Orthodox Church are being tested, which may later be applied on a global scale. This opinion was expressed by Bulgarian journalist and translator of Orthodox literature Andrey Romanov in an interview with the Bulgarian branch of teh UOJ, commenting on the ongoing persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I suspect that this is a kind of rehearsal for something that may happen on a global scale,” Romanov noted. “Technologies for persecution – judicial, legal, and media harassment, defamation – are being tested in a certain way.”
According to the expert, explaining what is happening as Ukrainian nationalism and opposition to the so-called “Moscow Church” is only a visible reason, behind which lies something deeper and more alarming.
“Perhaps, I am wrong, but it seems to me that this is a testing of technologies that may be applied tomorrow all over the world,” the journalist emphasized.
Romanov drew attention to the spiritual nature of the persecution against the Church, noting that what is happening is not just a political act, but a spiritual struggle: “The most important motive is not political; the most important motive is spiritual. This is a spiritual struggle, and ultimately we know who stands behind this struggle against faith and against Christians.”
The expert called on Christians to be vigilant, as the processes occurring in Ukraine may be used as a model for persecution in other countries.
The full interview with Andrey Romanov will be published on the UOJ website after Bright Week.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Metropolitan of the Bulgarian Church condemned the desecration of relics in the Lavra.
Read also
First words and photos after Bishop Arseniy's release published online
The abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, after a year and ten months of imprisonment, offered praise to the Most Holy Theotokos for his release.
In Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, UOC hierarch reads Great Canon near seized church
Bishop Antony performed the Great Penitential Canon together with believers near a closed church in the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC.
His Beatitude reads third part of Great Canon at St Florus Convent
The Primate of the UOC led the Great Compline with the reading of the Penitential Canon at the St. Florus Convent in Kyiv.
UOC lawyer thanks U.S. politicians for Metropolitan Arseniy’s release
Amsterdam gave special mention to Orthodox public and political figures in the United States who spoke out in defense of the UOC hierarch.
82-year-old UGCC nun killed in Brazil
In Brazil’s state of Paraná, a man broke into a UGCC convent and killed 82-year-old Sister Nadiia Havanska. The tragedy has stirred the Ukrainian community.
MP Mazurashu proposes establishing a Bible Day in Ukraine
MP Heorhiy Mazurashu is proposing to add a Bible Day to Ukraine’s list of commemorative dates, without introducing an additional day off.