FIFTY
BUILDINGS
OF CANONICAL CHURCH SEIZED RECENTLY IN UKRAINE—PATRIARCH
Interfax-Religiia,
1
March 2018
According
to the
information of Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill, in recent
times in
Ukraine fifty church buildings of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
have been
seized.
"The
situation
in Ukraine is very difficult. There is most real persecution of
the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In recent times, 50 church buildings
have been
seized by force. There are continual attacks on church buildings
and priests
are being beaten. . . . There are scenes where a priest in
vestments is all
bloody and he is called an occupier, but he is a Ukrainian, born
in Ukraine and
speaking only the Ukrainian language. He is beaten only because
he is in the
canonical church, which the local authorities call an occupying
church,"
the patriarch said in an interview with Bulgarian news media on
the eve of his
visit to Bulgaria.
The
primate
expressed disappointment over the fact that in the West
criticism is not being
voiced against Ukraine for violation of human rights and
religious liberties, while
there is not simply violation but "monstrous violation, with the
use of
force, and all of this is depicted on television and in various
kinds of
documents."
In
Patriarch
Kirill's opinion, Ukrainian society today is very divided and
what is happening
in the Donbass "is a civil war: part of Ukraine does not accept
what is
happening in another part." The only force that has peacemaking
potential,
he thinks, is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, because its flock
is both in the
east and in the west of the country.
"We very much hope that all these political turbulences in Ukraine will pass and people will again live peacefully and will respect human rights and religious liberties. And the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will continue its ministry in the future. There is such hope. We are praying for it," the patriarch concluded. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 March 2018)
PATRIARCH
KIRILL
FANTASIZED FOR BULGARIAN NEWS MEDIA ABOUT BLOODIED, BEATEN
PRIESTS OF UPTsMP
According
to the
information of Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill, in recent
times in
Ukraine fifty church buildings of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
have been
seized.
"The
situation
in Ukraine is very difficult. There is most real persecution of
the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In recent times, 50 church buildings
have been
seized by force. There are continual attacks on church buildings
and priests
are being beaten. . . . There are scenes where a priest in
vestments is all
bloody and he is called an occupier, but he is a Ukrainian, born
in Ukraine and
speaking only the Ukrainian language. He is beaten only because
he is in the
canonical church, which the local authorities call an occupying
church,"
the patriarch said in an interview with Bulgarian news media on
the eve of his
visit to Bulgaria, Interfax-Religiia reports.
The
primate
expressed disappointment over the fact that in the West
criticism is not being
voiced against Ukraine for violation of human rights and
religious liberties,
while there is not simply violation but "monstrous violation,
with the use
of force, and all of this is depicted on television and in
various kinds of
documents."
In
Patriarch
Kirill's opinion, Ukrainian society today is very divided and
what is happening
in the Donbass "is a civil war: part of Ukraine does not accept
what is
happening in another part." The only force that has peacemaking
potential,
he thinks, is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, because its flock
is both in the
east and in the west of the country.
As
RISU has
reported, in 2017 the UPTDsMP grew by 52 parishes. This church
now has 12,069
parishes. These data are cited in the report of the chancellor
of the UPTsMP,
Metropolitan of Borispol and Brovary Antony for 2017.
In
53 dioceses
of the UPTsMP, 12,283 clergy are serving. This is 249 more
clerics than in
2016.
In
251
monasteries, 4,412 monks and nuns are serving (last year there
were 4,315).
In
17 higher
ecclesiastical educational institutions of the UPtsMP, 1333
full-time students
are enrolled.
According to Ukrainian people's deputy of the National Front fraction Viktor Elinsky, the president of the Ukrainian Association of Religious Liberty, in the three past years the UPTsMP has received 220 hectares of land, which is sufficient territory to accommodate five Vaticans. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 March 2018)
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