DESS urges the world not to believe ROC claiming religious freedom abuses

Head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience Viktor Yelensky. Photo: Suspilne

The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience urges the global religious community not to believe the propaganda of the Russian Orthodox Church claiming that Ukraine violates international principles of religious freedom. This statement was published on the agency's website.

"As it has become known, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has long turned into an instrument of inciting hatred and justifying the aggressive war against Ukraine, has been tasked with trying to convince the global religious community that it is not the Russian Federation committing bloody crimes against freedom of conscience, but Ukraine violating international principles in the field of religious freedom. For this purpose, Patriarch Kirill, who bears personal responsibility for calls for the genocide of Ukrainians, the proclamation of the aggressive imperialist war as 'sacred,' and specific actions aimed at destroying Ukrainian statehood, culture, and identity, should meet with religious leaders and attempt to convince them, using the most disgraceful examples of Kremlin propaganda, that evil is good and lies are truth," the statement by the State Ethnopolitics Service reads.

In this regard, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience reminds in its statement that Ukraine has been a home of religious freedom throughout its independence, "where believers of all religious traditions coexist and enjoy equal rights," the officials wrote.

The statement notes that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, the killing of clergy, including those in liturgical garments, the destruction of religious buildings, and acts of torture and abuse have become daily practices.

Specifically, Russian military forces have killed more than 40 priests, pastors, monks, and teachers of religious educational institutions during the occupation of the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Kherson regions. Many clergy members have died during shelling in the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv regions.

The State Ethnopolitics Service also stated that they are aware of hundreds of appeals from UOC clergy to their leadership, calling to leave the Russian Church and cease any administrative relations with an organization that openly displays brutal hatred towards Ukrainians.

"The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience urges church hierarchs and religious leaders to raise their voices against the injustices perpetrated by the Russian Church, in defense of those tortured, deceived, betrayed, and kidnapped with the participation of this organization, which has clearly lost the right to belong to the Church of Christ," concluded the State Ethnopolitics Service.

As previously reported by UOJ, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has approached the State Ethnopolitics Service due to the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This Commission is a separate federal agency of the US government responsible for reviewing possible violations of religious freedom abroad and providing policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress.

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