Political analyst: UOC believers are Zelensky's voters, he must hear them
For the authorities to hear the Orthodox, believers of the UOC must take an active position and defend the interests of the Church, believes Daniil Bogatyrev.
Political expert Daniil Bogatyrev at the round table "The Basic Law of Ukraine and its Application to the UOC" stated that the majority of Vladimir Zelensky's voters are parishioners of the UOC, and he must hear them, including in terms of the abolition of anti-church laws, reports the youtube-channel Ukrainian News.
“All this (the adoption of anti-church laws – Ed.) was done as part of the election campaign of one politician Petro Poroshenko. The slogan ‘Army, Language, Faith’ was invented by Igor Grynev, one of the main strategists of Poroshenko's electoral headquarters. This slogan caused a number of conflicts amid Ukrainian believers. Last but not least, the people of Ukraine elected the current President Zelensky out of indignation with this slogan and support for one confession of the OCU ... Many, if not most of the voters of Vladimir Zelensky, are parishioners of the UOC ... so we wonder why in the third year of the presidency the one who was elected primarily by the UOC has not yet canceled two anti-church laws,” the political analyst noted.
According to Daniil Bogatyrev, in order for the authorities to hear the voice of the Orthodox, the laity must act and go to prayer meetings, just as they went to the Verkhovna Rada and the Office of the President on June 15.
“As a political analyst, I will say that we were heard by President Zelensky. Initially, he dismissively responded (to the prayer standing on June 15 – Ed.), but literally on the same day, his adviser Mikhail Podoliak, an experienced PR specialist, began to apologize that they ... did not want to offend the believers of the UOC. This means that our message has reached Bankova, which means that such actions must be continued. Should the Church itself take part in this as a structure with hierarchs? In my opinion, no, because the Church is not a political structure, but a spiritual, religious one. However, active lay people should take part in such initiatives,” he added.
Let us recall that on June 15, 20,000 believers of the UOC held a prayer standing near the Verkhovna Rada and passed two bills aimed at protecting the rights of believers in the UOC.
As the UOJ previously reported, Archbishop Nikolai (Pochtovy) of Vasilkiv said that by recognizing the schismatics, Phanar struck a blow to all of Orthodoxy.
