UOC hierarch: Banning SOC patriarch from entering Kosovo destroys Orthodoxy

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhia and Melitopol. Photo: Met Luke’s Telegram channel

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhia and Melitopol stated on his Telegram channel that the ban on entry into Kosovo and Metohija for Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church is a manifestation of the total destruction of Orthodoxy.

The UOC hierarch is convinced that these actions are driven by a cold strategic calculation: "to question the legitimacy of the Serbian Church's presence in the native Serbian province, as well as to lay the groundwork for a fundamental change in the religious identity of its population."

Met. Luke stated that by demonstratively barring Patriarch Porfirije from entering Kosovo and Metohija, the world is being shown that the head of the Serbian Church is supposedly "an outsider" in Kosovo, and that there is no future for the SOC in the region.

He illustrated his words with the fact of the desecration of the Holy Trinity Church in the village of Naklo near Peć, where unknown individuals defaced the church with offensive graffiti.

"The Zaporizhia Eparchy will pray for this egregious situation to be properly resolved. We will also appeal to all concerned people in other Local Churches to unite efforts and jointly address international institutions with a demand to protect the fundamental rights of the Serbian Orthodox Church," concluded the head of the Zaporizhia Eparchy.

As reported, the Bishops’ Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church considers the ban on Patriarch Porfirije and seven other SOC bishops from entering Kosovo to be lawlessness unfolding before the entire civilized world.

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