Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra abbot urges to stop attacks on the UOC

Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed) of Vyshhorod and Chornobyl, abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, called for an end to the attacks on the UOC, saying that the priests of the UOC serve the Ukrainian people during the warfare, provide humanitarian assistance, accept refugees, help hospitals and those in need, reports lavra.ua.

“Today, a bloody war is taking place in Ukraine, which is condemned by the entire episcopate and priesthood, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. No one has the right to encroach and take away from a person the life given by God. Nevertheless, there is strife among Ukrainians that impede peace, love and mutual respect within our country. Today, certain forces want to destroy the canonical UOC. For this end, they slander our Church in every possible way and, by doing so, Christ Himself, who ‘is the head of the body of the Church’ (Col. 1:18),” Metropolitan Pavel noted.

Metropolitan Pavel recalled that the UOC has the status of an independent Church, it does not have registration abroad, but it was registered in Ukraine even before the independence of the state itself.

“We are children of God and citizens of an independent country. We try our best to continue our ministry while in Ukraine... We are often slandered and accused of being involved in some way in the ongoing war. I would like to remind you that we are also on the territory of our long-suffering country, and falling bombs are mercilessly hitting everyone indiscriminately. If we were citizens of another country, we would have left Ukraine long ago," the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra emphasized.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra told about the monastery's life amid the war.

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