ROVNO METROPOLITAN REPUDIATES HIS SIGNATURE ON 13 NOVEMBER MEMORANDUM
Pravoslavie v Ukraini, 19 November 2014
On Wednesday, 19 November, the website of the Rovno diocese posted a statement of Metropolitan of Rovno and Ostrog Varfolomy in which he gave the reasons for his participation in the 13 November signing of a memorandun and stated that he repudiates his signature of the document.
We present the text of the statement:
On 13 November representatives of several Christian confessions of Rovno province signed a so-called Memorandum, one of whose points was to bring a future peaceful settlement of religious conflicts.
Sincerely hoping that the seizure of Orthodox church buildings would end and that all religious conflicts in future would be resolved peacefully and justly, I, as the ruling bishop of the Rovno diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, signed the memorandum.
When they learned about it, many representatives of the clergy and simple believers of the diocese perceived the signed memorandum as a betrayal of the Orthodox faith. All sorts of rumors began, leading in the diocese to eccliastical instability.
In addition, supporters of UPTsKP are crudely violating point No. 4 of the memorandum, which speaks about the cessation of seizures of Orthodox church buildings. Three days after the signing of the memorandum, on 15 November, new attempts to seize churches in the villages of Ptichia of Dubensk district and Badovka of Osrog district were made. Provocations on the part of UPTsKP have not ceased.
On the basis of the above, I repudiate my signature of the memorandum as a document, which did not bring peace and stability for Orthodox believers of the Rovno region.
I place full blame for this violation completely on supporters of UPTsKP. From this time forward the memorandum has absolutely no juridical force for all clergy and believers of the Rovno diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
I call Orthodox believers, preserving peace and church stability, to raise their prayers for our Orthodox Church and for our motherland and all of us.
Merciful Lord, God of love and peace, may you always be with us all. (tr. by PDS, posted 19 November 2014)
Russia
Religion
News
Current News Items