ROC: Guardians of church unity are being persecuted in Ukraine
The hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church said they feel particularly bitter about the news that the clergy and laity of the UOC are pushed to a split.
On July 19, 2023, the participants of the Bishops' Conference of the Russian Orthodox Church stated that the Ukrainian authorities are persecuting the guardians of church unity, the patriarchia.ru website reports.
The final resolution states that “the reports that the clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are being made to renounce God’s truth and pushed into schism are particularly bitter.”
The participants of the Bishops’ Conference called for “an intense prayer for Orthodox brothers and sisters in Ukraine, for those who strive to preserve church unity despite threats, slander and persecution, and especially for those who show a truly confessional feat, courageously raising their voices in defense of this unity."
The hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church wished many years to Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshhorod and Chornobyl, who is now in prison, "and to all hierarchs-confessors who suffer criminal prosecution for their faith and the Church."
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church said whether it is possible to receive communion where he is not commemorated.
