ROC head addresses Primates of Local Churches over Met Pavel’s arrest

Metropolitan Pavel. Photo: easternherald.com

On 15 July 2023, Patriarch Kirill addressed the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches and other religious and political figures in connection with the arrest of Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod.

A letter to Pope Francis, Patriarch of the Coptic Church Tawadros II, Head of the Anglican Communion Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Secretary General of the World Council of Churches Dr Gerry Pillay, Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres, OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid, Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic-Buric, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, and ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci was published on the ROC website.

It says, "On 14 July 2023, on the basis of the decision of the Solomensky District Court of Kiev, the hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl, who was previously under 24-hour house arrest, was taken into custody and placed in prison."

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church believes that this court decision "was taken in the context of the ongoing attempts by the Ukrainian authorities to forcibly and lawlessly remove the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra from the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church".

"This court ruling, unjust and obviously dictated by the Ukrainian authorities, is aimed at intimidating believers, forcing them to abandon the defence of their religious freedom and sanctuaries, and is part of the large-scale persecution launched by the Ukrainian authorities against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," Patriarch Kirill wrote.

He is sure that "a religious figure cannot and should not be subjected to this kind of repressive measures for his religious beliefs".

"I note with great concern that changing the measure of restraint for Metropolitan Pavel, a man in his old age, from house arrest to placing him in custody threatens him with a serious deterioration of his health and may lead to his death in the detention centre," the ROC head warned.

He called on world religious leaders and heads of the Local Churches to "pay attention to the ongoing persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and take all possible measures to protect Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl from lawless persecution".

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the former Ukrainian MP said that the authorities’ actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were nothing but incitement of interfaith hatred.

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