Archbishop of Kirovograd Joasaph urges believers to stand for protection of Church

In the conditions of the war in Ukraine, some deputies are trying to destroy the internal peace, trying to push anti-church bills № 4511 and № 4128 through the Verkhovna Rada. Archbishop Joasaph of Kirovograd and Novomirgorod said this in his Address to the Orthodox believers of the Kirovograd diocese of the UOC, writes the website of the diocese.

"It's been a very short time since the godless Soviet power, with all the might of the state apparatus, took up arms against the Church of Christ, trying to destroy it and sink it in its own blood, the blood of new martyrs and confessors.

All seems in the past: lessons learned, conclusions drawn ... But no. Again, already in the XXI century, in an independent European law-based state, under the declared rights and freedoms, under equality of all before the law, the enemy of the human race is looking for ways and methods of fighting against the Church.

Separate poor deputies who, by faith, belong to the well-known denominations and are hostile to our holy Church, bring not only confusion and discord among Christians, but also encroach on the holiest of our people - the Orthodox Church, trying to enslave it, creating the ground for discord and bloody interreligious wars in the state.

We must wonder what aim they set for themselves and if they are real patriots, trying to draw the country into the fire of inter-faith confrontation.

The Church of Christ lives and testifies to the world the Divine truth, for it is "the Church of the living God, the pillar and the statement of truth" and "the gates of hell will not prevail against it."

I call upon all of you to raise your voice in defense of the Church of Christ. We will not fear, having role models in the lives of saints who openly and fearlessly confessed the name of God and stood firm to defend the parental faith and the historical Church of our people," stressed Vladyka.