Bishop Victor: We do our best for the Church voice to be heard by the world

Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka, head of the UOC Representation to European International Organizations

On May 27, 2017, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church established the UOC Representation to European International Organizations which, within the framework of OSCE, UNHRC and other international human rights organizations, officially declares violations of the rights of believers of the UOC and submits procedurally legal information, the head of the Representation Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka told in an interview with the Internet portal Pravoslavie.RU.

“Our statements, reports of human rights organizations, as well as reliable facts published by the media, become material for the work of diplomatic missions, as a result of which there is a wide international publicity of the events we are talking about. It is very important that the UOC has the opportunity to directly "first-hand" supply information about the real situation of our communities in the country, to answer questions from diplomats, politicians and human rights activists," the Bishop said.

According to Bishop Victor, violations of the rights of believers of the canonical Church in Ukraine constantly cause international resonance, representatives of many human rights organizations raise offense-related issues.

“I was even a little surprised when in September last year, at the OSCE’s annual human dimension meeting in Vienna, before my speech, several participants had time to speak on the topic of human rights violations in Ukraine, including those based on religion,” shared the UOC hierarch.

In the meantime, the hierarchs of the canonical Church bring to the attention of the world community the facts of oppression of Ukrainian believers; the UOC parishioners themselves are fervently asking God to protect their Church, said His Grace.

“We give it one hundred and ten percent to make the voice of the suffering Ukrainian Orthodox Church heard throughout the world. And the multi-million Orthodox flock of Ukraine continually offers its prayers to the Lord, remembering the words of the psalmist David: "The Lord is my enlightenment and my Savior, who should I be afraid of? The Lord is my defender, who should I fear?" (Ps. 26, 1), concluded the head of the UOC Representative Office to European International Organizations.

Bishop Victor of Baryshevka also made an agreement to inform the European Union about the position of believers of the UOC exploiting the “Human Rights Without Frontiers” opportunities. This organization carries out research on the state of human rights observance in more than 80 countries of the world and informs on a permanent basis European and international human rights structures about violations of rights in the religious sphere, as well as specializes in interaction with foreign media.

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