The statements of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate about the unprecedented “persecution” they are allegedly being subjected to is a mockery and spitting on the graves of confessors who were tortured during the Soviet anti-religious campaign.
The head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policies and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, spoke of this on the air of Radio Kultura.
Yelensky noted that the government will not fight against believers.
“I’d like to emphasize that we don’t want to see the body of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, but this doesn’t mean that the government will fight against believers, against those who belong to a particular church. Now the spokesmen for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate are talking about the unprecedented oppression to which the church is being subjected. In my opinion, this is mockery and spitting on the graves of those confessors who were tortured during the Soviet anti-religious campaign.
It seems to me that in many ways, the level of freedom of conscience in Ukraine can serve as a model not only for our eastern neighbors, but sometimes also for the western ones,” said Yelenskyi.
