OCU backs plans to destroy UOC hospital church in Zaporizhzhia

“Bishop” Fotiy Davydenko of the OCU. Photo: Davydenko’s Facebook

OCU “bishop” Fotiy Davydenko has published an address to the people of Zaporizhzhia concerning the announced destruction of the UOC church at the city’s Fifth Municipal Hospital.

He insisted that in Ukraine today, “churches are not being destroyed” and “faith is not being persecuted.” According to him, the administration’s plans to dismantle the UOC Church of the “Healer” Icon of the Mother of God amount merely to “returning state and municipal premises to lawful use.”

Davydenko said it was “impossible to accept a situation” in which, alongside wounded Ukrainian defenders, prayers and solemn commemorations were being offered “for those blessing the war against our people.”

The OCU hierarch claimed that he is “not against prayer” and “not against churches,” but rather “for truth, for the law, and for Ukraine.”

“Everyone has the right to believe, to pray, and to seek God. But no one has the right to violate the law, appropriate state property, or hide behind faith where responsibility to society and the state is at stake,” Davydenko said.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Zaporizhzhia authorities had announced plans to destroy the UOC hospital church, which had been functioning for more than 25 years. Its rector stressed that the altar, the frescoes, and the iconostasis cannot be removed and will be destroyed during the demolition.

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