UOC: Provocateurs wreak havoc with false statements on behalf of the Church
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church warns that the incidence of spreading false orders on behalf of the bishops of the UOC has risen.
Unknown provocateurs distribute fake documents with fake signatures, sending them directly to the clergy and publishing them on the Internet, with the aim of sowing chaos among Orthodox Ukrainians. It is reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.
Among the latest cases is an “order” of Metropolitan Nikodim of Zhitomir and Novograd-Volynsky to stop the prayer commemoration of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, which over the last days has been sent to several clerics of Zhitomir eparchy.
“We inform officially that such “appeals” are false and falsified and have nothing to do with the Zhitomor eparchy and personally with its ruling metropolitan,” the eparchy stressed. “It is regrettable that there are individuals who do not want peace and prosperity for our people, but do everything to divide and alienate people from God.”
Earlier, the fake on behalf of the Office of the Kiev Metropolitanate of the UOC was announced by deputy chairman of the UOC DECR Protopriest Nikolai Danilevich. A pseudo guidance note calling to stop the commemoration of the Primate of the ROC went viral on the web.
On September 20, an “order” appeared on Facebook on behalf of Metropolitan of Ovruch and Korosten Vissarion, in which the decision of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of September 14, 2018 was condemned and it was proposed to stop the commemoration of Patriarch Kirill.
“Due to the fact that in the social network (Facebook) someone created a page called “Vissarion Stretovich”, which features various provocative information which I, Metropolitan Vissarion of Ovruchs, have nothing to do with and consider it my duty to inform once again: this fake page was created by some enemies of the Holy Church of Christ,” goes in the statement published on the official website of the eparchy.
Recently, on September 30, a new fake stuff appeared on this page distorting the essence of the encounter between Metropolitan Vissarion and representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate, which occurred during the celebrations of the City Day. Refuting it, the press service of the Ovruch eparchy on behalf of His Grace wrote the following: "... On the fake page under my name they placed another lie that I had allegedly discussed the issue of Tomos with these schismatics and want to join them."
As the UOJ reported, earlier in Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovograd and Ivano-Frankovsk eparchies there were mass mailshots of the forged edition of Mir (Peace) Orthodox journal with a statement of His Beatitiude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine ostensibly recognizing the Single Local Church and supporting the church initiatives of President Petro Poroshenko.
