UOC spokesman: Repealing the anti-church law is a step towards real unity

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich. Photo: UOJ

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Head of the External Church Relations Department of the UOC, stated that the repeal of the anti-church law on renaming the UOC would be a step towards the real unity of the Ukrainian people.

The UOC spokesman wrote about this on his Facebook page.

"Yesterday (February 16 – Ed.) was the Day of Unity, which was proclaimed by the President. I believe that one of the real and symbolic steps for real unity and consolidation of the people would be the repeal of the law on ‘renaming’ our Church (UOC) into the so-called ‘ROC in Ukraine’,” wrote Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich.

According to him, UOC believers are the same Ukrainians as representatives of other denominations, and they should not be made enemies.

"There are no enemies; those loyal to the UOC are the same Ukrainians. We do not push them towards Russia and do not give them to Russia. They are ours, we are all one, united people of Ukraine. This is what the current President of Ukraine used to say in his speeches. And even yesterday Vladimir Zelensky spoke of such ideas in his speech. But in addition to words and declarations, real action is needed. The anthem, embroideries, the flag are all right and necessary, but actions are needed, there should be less talk and more action,” the UOC spokesman added.

As concrete steps, the priest suggested correcting the mistakes of the previous government, including the UOC.

"In particular, to erase the dividing lines drawn by the previous government and to correct the mistakes of the predecessor, who by that law (the law on renaming the UOC – Ed.) absolutely artificially declared the largest Church and millions of its faithful, citizens of Ukraine, enemies of the country. It is obvious that over time and given the current situation in and around our state, all the absurdity and harmfulness of this law for the state is becoming more and more apparent," said the UOC spokesman.

The priest stressed once again that true patriotism is not about loud statements, but working in peace for the good of the country.

"The UOC does not make loud statements; true patriotism does not consist in heroic and patriotic rhetoric, which only fuels panic and incites the Western media, which inflate the info space, as a result of which Ukraine has already lost at least $ 12.5 billion and continues to lose. True patriotism means to behave quietly, to work in peace for the good of the country, and to be ready to defend it. If we are calm, then people are calm. If the priests are in place, so are the people in place. If there is a war, we will bless the people to defend Ukraine. But I do not see much sense in ranting, breeding panic, and causing hysteria ahead of time. Hysteria and panic are the first two friends of the enemy. There is no war at the moment (and God forbid there is), but we have already lost so much in a state of panic that not every real war can cause such damage. Moreover, this panic comes not from Russia, but from panic escalating Western media. And these are not just my observations,” the UOC spokesman replied in a comment to one of the Fb users.

It will be recalled that the Law on Forced Renaming of the UOC (Law №2662) was adopted on December 20, 2018, when the OCU was established. At the same time, the very term “Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine” is not available in any of the legal or canonical documents.

As the UOJ previously reported, the UOC spokesman said that the law on renaming is aimed at dividing Ukrainians.

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