Lawyer: Why can Hasidim pray in Ukraine, but Orthodox Christians cannot?

By September 26, 2022, more than 23,000 Jewish pilgrims arrived in Uman, who freely gather for mass prayers, but at the same time a report was drawn up against the rector of the Bancheny Monastery, Metropolitan Longin, for organizing a much smaller prayer procession,noted Victoria Kokhanovska, the assistant consultant of the deputy of Kamyanets-Podilskyi City Council, lawyer and head of the All-Ukrainian Sisterhood of Mary Magdalene.

According to media reports, a mass Tikkun ha-Klali prayer took place in Uman, in which thousands of Bratslav Hasidim took part. “There is no protocol and no ban on the mass event,” the human rights activist stressed.

At the same time, she wrote, on September 24, the police drew up a protocol against Vladyka Longin as against only one believer of the UOC: “He was not the organizer of the event: he was walking with a prayer to God. Why precisely him?”

“It remains only to be happy for the Hasidim. Their rights to freely practice their faith in Ukraine are reliably protected and ensured by the Ukrainian state. Also, their common prayer is not persecuted or limited by anyone ... In turn, an Orthodox Christian, a citizen of Ukraine, waking up in the morning, can never be sure that his church was not seized, burned, or desecrated in his country,” the human rights activist noted, adding that she feels "pain and despair for our Ukraine and double standards."

As the UOJ wrote, Metropolitan Longin appealed to the President because of the seizure of UOC churches.

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