Dozens of priests leave Ukraine – 19 churches of Moscow Patriarchate seized – Russian Orthodox Church representative
Vienna, May 18, Interfax – Dozens of priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) are leaving Ukraine in fear of persecutions, the head of the sector for interreligious liaisons at the Russian Orthodox Church’s Synodal Department for External Church Relations Priest Dimitry Safonov told on Monday.
“There are dozens of priests who had to leave Ukraine. The exact statistic is currently impossible. They are pressured into leaving Ukraine. Their families are getting death threats, they themselves are facing the threat of physical violence,” he told an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference on combating the intolerance and discrimination towards Christians in Vienna.
A total of 77 churches and monasteries have been damaged or demolished during the military conflict in eastern Ukraine, the priest said.
In western Ukraine, religious crimes are manifested in the seizure of UOC MP churches, Father Dmitry said.
“By now there have been credible reports about 19 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church having been violently seized by the so-called “Kiev Patriarchate”. This religious organization was formed in Ukraine in 1992 and has not been recognized by any of the Orthodox Churches worldwide,” the priest said.
All actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “are motivated precisely by religious and national hatred,” he said.
The people are deserting the Moscow Patriarchate; no churches are being “seized” and the only religious crimes are those of the Russian Orthodox Church which unquestioningly supports Putin’s murderous incursions into Ukraine. It is not surprising that Moscow’s presbyteral stooges feel they need to return to Russia. They get what they deserve.
No one deserves death or to be run out of their home. The Lord is coming soon to judge the living and the dead and the thoughts, words and deeds will be laid bare. Lord have mercy on us all.