LVOV DIOCESE OF U.P.Ts.M.P. REQUESTS CALLING OF BISHOPS' COUNCIL FOR DECLARING INDEPENDENCE OF CHURCH FROM MOSCOW
Clergymen of the Lvov diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UPTsMP) published an appeal with the request to convene a Bishops' Council of the UPTsMP and to declare the complete independence of the church from Russia.
This appeal to Metropolitan Filaret was published on the Facebook page of the Lvov diocese of the UPTsMP.
"The chancellery of the Lvov diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reports that on 28 February and 1 March 2022 appeals arrived at the chancellery from priests of the diocese to the diocesan bishop requesting that appeals be sent to the primate of the UPTs [i.e., Metropolitan of Kiev Onufry—tr.] and the Holy Synod requesting the convocation of a Bishops' Council of the UPTs at which a decision would be made for withdrawing from the RPTs [Russian Orthodox Church] and declaring autocephaly," the document says.
The chancellery of the Lvov diocese of the UPTsMP also said that it was fake news that reported that searches were conducted in their parishes in Lvov oblast during which weapons were discovered.
"We inform Ukrainian society that this information is not in accord with reality and is a provocation. . . . The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the church of the Ukrainian people and during the war of its state with the Russian Federation it condemns outright the actions of the latter and it aids by all means the Ukrainian troops and forced displaced persons, providing them necessary items and food, giving shelter to refugees, and also making fervent prayer for the victory of Ukraine," the diocese's report says.
It is noted there that by the second day of the war already a resolution by the chancellor of the Lvov diocese of the UPTsMP was circulated regarding the cessation of the commemoration in prayer of Patriarch of Moscow Kirill during the divine liturgy in all churches and monasteries of the diocese. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 March 2022)
GORODOK AUTHORITIES IN LVOV OBLAST BAN ACTIVITY OF CANONICAL U.P.Ts.
Authorities of the city of Gorodok in Lvov oblast forbade the activity of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church [UPTsMP], a report says, which was published on Thursday on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church.
"On 28 February 2022, the head of the Gorodok city council of Lvov oblast of Ukraine, Vladimir Remeniak, signed an order "On prohibiting the activity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate," as "posing a danger to the national security of Ukraine," the report says.
The UPTs claims that the document regarding the ban says that priests and parishioners of the UPTs "are conducting anti-government and anti-Ukraine activity," are creating "an artificial opposition of various groups of the Ukrainian people," and are accused of "causing a split in Ukrainian society on religious grounds."
The text notes that the decision was adopted after an appeal by representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGKTs) of the village of Rechichany.
Yesterday a report was made on the website of the Ivano-Frankovsk diocese of the UPTs about the seizure "of a number of churches and monasteries" in this diocese by representatives of the UGKTs and the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PTsU). (tr. by PDS, posted 4 March 2022)
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