UOC hierarch: Church is not only His Beatitude, its fate in hands of laity

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich at the prayer standing near the Verkhovna Rada. Photo: a screenshot of the “1Kozak” Youtube channel

Deputy head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, during the prayer standing under the Verkhovna Rada on June 15, said that the fate of the Church depends not only on His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, but mainly on the laity, who should stand up for the protection of the Church, reports the “1Kozak” Youtube channel.

“... The fate of the Church is not only in the hands of His Beatitude, the episcopate, the priesthood, but mainly in the hands of people, believers, laity. We are standing here, reading the Akathist to the Mother of God, and God grant that this prayer be heard by God, so that our words reach the President and the deputies. I think they are already taking notice. I judge by the words of the Minister of Culture Alexander Tkachenko, who said that for him the preservation of interreligious peace is more important than the issue of renaming the Church ... They see that there are many of us. And if we didn’t speak out and didn’t go out on religious processions, we would be “buried”. And so we are alive, we are many and we are the majority. We must not be afraid to say that we are Christians, Ukrainians, and we defend our legal rights. May God grant that on this day the authorities hear the voice of the Orthodox,” he said.

As reported, on June 15, UOC believers, during the prayer standing near the Verkhovna Rada, handed over two bills aimed at protecting the rights of UOC believers. These bills concern two laws passed under President Petro Poroshenko – Law No. 2662-VIII (on the forced renaming of the UOC to the ROCU) and 2673-VIII (a law for church raiders).

As previously reported, MP Vadim Novinsky said that there are enough people within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada who are ready to defend the UOC.

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