UOC priest: 'Quarter 95' humiliated our Church’s parishioners world-wide

Archpriest Oleksandr Klymenko stated that the persecution of the UOC, which has intensified recently, could not have happened without instructions from the country's leadership. He said this during a conference on the persecution of the Church, which took place at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on 15 December 2022.

"We all remember the first months of the war when it was very hard for all of us, and everyone remembers how we helped those in need, and we were aided by Christian organisations in Europe. <...> In this respect I wonder how the situation with 'Quarter 95' will affect the image of Ukraine, which many Christian communities from abroad – including German Catholics and Protestants – have supported and are supporting," the priest said.

"Our refugees, many of whom are now abroad, are treated as people united by one religious tradition. We are accepted, aided, given the opportunity to live for free, because they see our misfortune, the fact that we suffer from the war waged against us. And here all of a sudden, they show how a comedy show affiliated with the higher leadership of the country humiliates every Christian – both those who live in the USA and those who live in other countries. "Against every one of them, these two men from 'Quarter 95' went boorish and said, 'your faith is something we can mock at'," Father Oleksandr added.

The clergyman stressed that it is unclear how other countries will now treat Ukraine, and in the meantime, it is important because the Church receives help from foreign Christian organisations.

"Without a command "take it" from the very top this would not have happened," says the priest.

Father Oleksandr reminded the present that since the beginning of the war the theses have been heard throughout the vertical of power and the media: "there are no Russian churches in Ukraine", "the UOC is not the ROC", "the UOC is with its own people" and so on, and literally in the last month the rhetoric of the media and officials has changed dramatically.

As reported, a conference on the persecution and oppression of the Church is being held at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.