Where have the Christian leaders’ consciences gone?

“Christian leaders.” Photo: OCU press service

In an interview with American Christian journalist Joel Rosenberg, Zelensky once again poured out a stream of manipulation and falsehoods about the UOC.

In particular, he “refuted” Tucker Carlson’s words that in Ukraine the authorities are imprisoning priests and closing churches.

Zelensky labels the UOC a “Russian Church” and insists that none of its representatives have been persecuted. According to him, the law banning the UOC is “not about persecution or the closure of any particular Church.”

Yet Metropolitan Arseny has languished in prison for a year and a half; blood was spilled in Cherkasy and Chernivtsi; 2,000 churches were forcibly “transferred”; UOC communities now serve liturgy in private homes – and all of this, according to Zelensky, is supposedly “not persecution.”

But the point is not Zelensky. With him everything is already clear. To expect truth or justice from him is senseless. The issue lies elsewhere – or rather, with others.

At the beginning of the interview Rosenberg mentioned that he had spoken “with Christian leaders,” and they told him that Carlson’s words about UOC persecution were false.

“Could you clarify this issue of religious freedom? Because Christians I meet with at very high levels say this is the freest country for their faith among all the former Soviet republics,” he asked Zelensky.

We already know how Zelensky answered. What we do not know is this: where have the consciences of these so-called “Christian leaders” gone? Instead of helping their persecuted brothers in the UOC, they act in ways that only intensify the persecution.

Perhaps they do indeed follow another Christ altogether?

Read also

From sanctuary to storage: how seized UOC churches are being repurposed

In Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, members of the OCU are reportedly using the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands – seized from the UOC – as a storage site for clothing.

Why can a thief who stole from AFU walk out of SIZO, while Vladyka Arseniy cannot?

A man who stole food from soldiers in wartime is allowed the privilege of freedom, while a hierarch who fed hundreds of destitute refugees in the Lavra is denied even the possibility.

“There are no people persecuted for their religious beliefs in the USSR”

One of the most disgraceful phenomena in the life of Ukraine’s present-day religious community is its complicity in justifying the crackdown on the UOC.

Why people heroize those who beat TRC

Why does the head of the UGCC publicly call for war until victory, while quietly hiding draft-dodging workers in temples? Why do OCU bloggers delete posts supporting the TRC due to massive hate?

On the long-awaited statements by Oleksandr Usyk

Oleksandr Usyk has declared that he is ready to become president. The only question is – whom does he now see as his voters?

Two weeks of OCU’s “brotherhood” talk to UOC: Any fruits yet?

So this is what the OCU’s “dialogue” looks like. One hand signs “appeals” about brotherhood – the other blesses people with angle grinders.