Patriarch Kirill to the President of Italy: World community is silent about discrimination of UOC believers

The UOC parishioners are oppressed, nearly deprived of their civil rights and imposed the laws excluding regular registration of Orthodox parishes in Ukraine, with UOC temples being subject to raiding, declared Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill at the meeting with President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, writes RIA News.

During the event the chief of the Moscow Patriarchate demonstrated stills featuring episodes of clashes around the UOC churches.

“The Church is oppressed, they are trying to deprive it of its civil rights and adopt the laws excluding regular registration of Orthodox parishes in Ukraine; church raiding is also the case. One can speak for a long time but when you see paramilitary groups in camouflage forcing the people out of their temples – it makes you feel startled,” remarked Patriarch Kirill in his speech at the annual Easter reception in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He underlined that silence of the international community in the situation at hand is amazing. Furthermore, ass he said, all Local Churches are supportive of the UOC in its confrontation with the unrecognized Ukrainian Church of the Kiev Patriarchate.

“They refer to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as an aggressor-church and demand to break ranks with the Moscow Patriarchate, accusing the Church of being non-patriotic. Yet the folks remain loyal to the canonical organization. Those whose parishes are illegally seized stay nevertheless within our canonical jurisdiction and often build a new temple instead of the taken-over one. However, there is evidence when newly constructed temples are raided again,” added the Primate.