UOC cleric to Phanar head: You don't you see persecution as again sold us?

Archbishop Nikolai (Pochtovy). Photo: a screenshot from the "Pershy Nezalezhny" YouTube channel

"Who did you sell us to and for how much?" this question was addressed to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople by Archbishop Nikolai (Pochtovy) of Vasylkiv at the prayer standing of UOC believers near the Verkhovna Rada on August 21. The prayer action is broadcast live by "Pershy Nezalezhny".

The hierarch recalled that the Patriarchate of Constantinople calls itself the Mother Church for the Ukrainian people, but “if this is so, then why you did you not see when we were expelled from churches? When these churches were taken away from us, you were silent. When we were beaten and maimed, you didn’t see, and you were silent. Or is it because you sold us?"

This has already happened in the history of the Church and the parallels are obvious, he noted. So, according to the hierarch, Patriarch Dionysius IV did it for the first time in 1686 "for gold and sable", and a hundred years ago "we were sold to the Soviet regime, recognizing the Renovationist schism and saying that Patriarch Tikhon, who headed the Russian Orthodox Church, is no longer a patriarch." ... Then the predecessor of Patriarch Bartholomew, Gregory VII, also did not see and was silent when thousands of priests and believers were killed, the archbishop emphasized.

"And now, when they persecute us, beat us, take our churches – you do not see and keep silent, whom did you sell us to and for how much?" the archbishop asked.

The hierarch of the UOC called everyone to joint prayer for Patriarch Bartholomew, “so that the Lord would inspire him to repentance for the schism, for bringing confusion among our people, for the division that intensified as a result of his interference in the affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, for concelebrating with schismatics, for the fact that he was a first in honor among equals, and wanted to become the first without equals. And it turned out that he became the first without honour."

As reported, on August 21, 2021, UOC believers gathered at the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv to testify to their faith and show the Phanar head that his idea of the church situation in Ukraine has nothing to do with reality. The UOJ is livestreaming the event online.

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