UOC Spokesman: Thanks to Cross Procession people are no longer in fear

Cross Procession of the UOC on July 27, 2018

Despite the obstacles on the part of different structures, the believers of the UOC came to the cross procession in Kiev. This was announced by the Deputy Head of DECR of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Orthodox Church, Protopriest Nikolai Danilevich, during the press conference "Single Local Orthodox Church: what will change after receiving Tomos?", organized by Golos.ua.

"This year the UOC received a record number of believers who took part in the procession," noted the deputy head of the DECR. "There were even more of them than in the "prayer for Ukraine”, which took place on the next day. There are objective comparisons of the two processions available on the Internet. But this is not the point, because we, as the Church, do not pursue quantity, since quality is important for us."

According to Father Nikolai, one of the results of the procession is that people have become more courageous.

"The fact that some forces created obstacles made even more people come to the procession," Father Nikolai stressed. "And, as the priests told me, when their buses were stopped, checked, barred, our people openly and boldly resented and defended their rights. Perhaps the main result at the church level is that people stopped having fear. This fear was lost in 2016, when there was All-Ukrainian Cross Procession from the two Lavras to Kiev. But now I see that in the environment of our Church there is certain, in a good sense, courage, openness prevailing fear, human fear."

On July 27-28, Ukraine celebrated the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus. Despite the fact that the officials massively blocked the participation of believers in the religious procession of the UOC, on July 27 the pilgrims managed to hold the procession in Kiev. According to the UOC, about 250,000 people took part in the cross procession.

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