Novinsky: The church issue will be used in negotiations with Russia

A multi-thousand UOC cross procession in 2017. Photo: Novinsky's Facebook

The law passed by the Verkhovna Rada, which paves the way for banning the UOC, may be seen by Ukrainian authorities as a "card" in negotiations with Russia, and the arrested UOC clergy may be used as part of an "exchange fund". This was written on Facebook by former MP and UOC Protodeacon Vadym Novinsky, commenting on the adoption of Law No. 8371.

"August 20 will go down in Ukrainian history as a day of shame and betrayal. This event is a direct consequence of the policy pursued by Ukrainian leadership over the past ten years. The UOC has been slandered, accused of nonexistent sins, restricted in its actions and opportunities, and with the onset of the war, declared illegal," said Vadym Novinsky.

The UOC protodeacon claims that the law passed by the Rada is "the result of joint actions by President Zelensky and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Each had their own goals, but the President's Office continuously coordinated its plans with the Phanar. A few days before the law was passed, a Ukrainian delegation visited Istanbul to agree on further steps with Patriarch Bartholomew. Thus, the Ecumenical Patriarch, instead of caring for the unity of Orthodoxy in the world and the fate of the clergy and believers, allowed actions that deepened divisions in the Orthodox world."

Novinsky also states that "Patriarch Bartholomew plans to create the Kyiv Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine, implying yet another church jurisdiction, which per se underscores the error of creating the OCU, and therefore the failed policies of the Phanar pursued until now. Emissaries of the Ecumenical Patriarch have already arrived in Kyiv to prepare for the creation of this new structure."

Vadym Novinsky predicts that "the church issue will be used as a card in negotiations with Russia, and bishops, priests, and laity will be used to replenish the exchange fund by fabricating false criminal cases against them. We see this in the case of Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchyn and Bratslav, who was already exchanged. We know for certain that other bishops are being pressured and openly blackmailed. SBU officers are demanding their 'voluntary' consent for exchange."

As reported by the UOJ, Vadym Novinsky previously noted that many persecutors of the UOC have forgotten which Church they were baptized in.

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