UOC Chancellor speaks about the prospects of returning seized temples

Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Borispol and Brovary. Photo: Borispol Eparchy website

There are prospects for the return of illegally seized churches of the UOC, and the Church is doing everything necessary to protect the rights of believers, said the UOC Сhancellor, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Borispol and Brovary, in an interview with the journal for the clergy “Pastyr & Pastva” ("Shepherd & ock").

“Still, God’s truth, just like the human’s, will triumph. Our Church is doing everything necessary to protect the rights of believers, both nationally and internationally. Also, the Embassies of foreign states in Ukraine and international human rights organizations are informed about cases of seizures of churches on an ongoing basis,” said the UOC Chancellor. 

Those officials are mistaken who believe that if they take away the temples, then the parishioners will go along with them, he added.

“They will not go. And recent events in Western Ukraine prove this. True, deeply enchurched believers cannot be deceived. They will always be in the true Church,” said Metropolitan Anthony.

According to him, the most important thing in the current situation is for clergymen and religious communities to build legal protection competently – to urgently report cases of violations of the rights of the episcopate, clergy, laity and institutions of the UOC to the Synodal Legal Department, to record the facts of obstructing services, the seizure of churches, provocations, pressures, threats, etc.

“The Kiev Metropolis has a hotline for those priests and religious communities whose rights are violated, and an interactive map of the seizures of the parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is published. The map is posted on the official website of the Legal Department and reflects the real statistics of the seized temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” said the head of the UOC.

He called the rectors of the temples of the canonical Church and members of its religious communities to bring the documents for the parish (temple) into conformity, which would greatly facilitate the protection of the rights of the community in court.

“The first thing you should pay attention to is the constituent documents of the religious community. All documents stipulated by the legislation for the activities of legal entities (the statute, the extract, etc.) must necessarily be up to date,” explained Metropolitan Anthony. “It is very important that the priest and the religious community have property and land title documents; in case they are missing, it is necessary to make maximum efforts to get them.”

Earlier, the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine urged the flock not to be embittered and protect their interests and rights by legal means. “The powers that be caused mayhem, God be their judge. We must endure it with gratitude to God. When the leaders of the Jews judged the Saviour, they also acted in a lawless way, as a result of which they condemned the Innocent. The Lord endured and told us to do so. We are not riders and must protect our temples and our interests by legal means, without violence and malice. The main thing here is not to stop praying and the Lord will certainly help us,” stressed the Primate of the UOC.

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