Phanar hierarch: UOC bishops did not join OCU due to RF special services
Archbishop Elpidophoros. Photo: Facebook
The head of the Archdiocese of the Constantinople Patriarchate in America Archbishop Elpidophoros stated in an interview with "Viche" that 100 out of 102 hierarchs of the UOC did not attend the "Unification Council" of the OCU in 2018 due to the fear of the Russian special services.
"The reason that many hierarchs did not join this autocephalous Church was the unjust pressure they experienced from Russian special services, intelligence services, which blackmailed through personal files, pressured, oppressed or even threatened hierarchs so they would not join," assures Archbishop Elpidophoros.
According to him, this is "obvious", but he does not know "whether anyone has ever spoken about this publicly and openly."
Thus, it can be stated that, in Archbishop Elpidophoros's opinion, only Metropolitans Simeon (Shostatsky) and Oleksandr (Drabinko), who appeared at the OCU event, were able to avoid pressure from the Russian Federation special services. The latter positioned himself as the creator of the "Russian world" ideology.
Read also
Pro-life activist in England fined for Bible verse outside abortion clinic
Christian Stephen Green is appealing the court’s decision that found him guilty for reading the Bible and displaying a verse from the Psalms outside an abortion clinic in London.
More than 40% of Ukraine’s reserved clergy are Protestants
DESS reported that among nearly six thousand clergy who have received reservation status, the majority come from Protestant communities.
RCC bishop: Why this war if there are no people in Ukraine in 15 years?
Vitaliy Kryvytsky stated that Ukraine is experiencing "not a crisis, but a catastrophe" with demographics and called for not surrendering conservative values to Russia.
Court hearing in Upper Lavra case to take place on February 18
UOC lawyer reported on a new court hearing regarding the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Shevchuk in Brazil: Those who don't believe in Ukraine's victory should repent
The head of the UGCC during his visit to Curitiba called on the Ukrainian diaspora to convince Brazilians of the inevitability of victory and stated that those who doubt should "convert".
EP condemns Turkey for deportations of Christians from country
The European Parliament adopted a document criticizing the deportations of foreign Christians and journalists from Turkey, carried out under the cover of national security considerations.