Metropolitan Agafangel: "SMO" is genocide of the Ukrainian people

Metropolitan Agafangel. Photo: Odesa Eparchy Facebook page

Metropolitan Agafangel of Odesa, in his address to the clergy and believers of the eparchy, called the missile strike on the Transfiguration Cathedral "the most terrifying event in recent history" and expressed hope that the temple will be rebuilt.

The address was published on the Odesa Eparchy's Telegram channel.

"Since February 24, 2022, Russia has launched a large-scale military aggression against our native Ukraine. People are dying, human blood is being shed, cities and villages, churches and monasteries are being destroyed. Whatever the goal of the so-called shameful 'special military operation,' it cannot justify killing and violence, destruction, and forced displacement. We still don't understand: who do they want to liberate us from? Life?" the hierarch wrote.

He called Russia's invasion of Ukraine a "real genocide of the Ukrainian people".

"This is the madness of all those who give orders to bomb Ukraine, kill our soldiers, and our people. We defend our native Ukrainian land; we defend the borders of our sovereign Independent State. We want to be left in peace, to live under a peaceful sky in our native land," Metropolitan Agafangel wrote.

According to him, "a country that considers itself Orthodox cannot pay lip service to God's law and at the same time do evil and darkness."

The hierarch expressed hope that "we will be able to rebuild our shrine – the Transfiguration Cathedral".

As earlier reported, the UOC bishop addressed Patriarch Kirill after the shelling of the Odessa Cathedral.

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