Pochaev, December 18, 2018
Photo: pochaev.org.ua His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Pochaev, the abbot of the great Holy Dormition-Pochaev Lavra, has appealed to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to intercede on behalf of the Ukrainian sailors who were detained by the Russian border service in the Kerch Strait incident on November 25.
The letter is dated December 11 and posted on the site of the Pochaev Lavra.
Met. Vladimir writes that he met with the head of the provincial administration on December 10 to discuss Church-state relations and inter-religious dialogue in the Ternopil Province, touching upon the fate of the Ukrainian sailors who are being held by the Russian Federation.
“Therefore, we appeal to you with a request to petition His Holiness Patriarch Kirill to help liberate our compatriots and to return them to their families as soon as possible,” the letter reads.
The abbot also notes that the brethren of the monastery constantly pray for peace in Ukraine and support all peacemaking initiatives.
OrthoChristian previously reported that His Eminence Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa and Izmail appealed to Pat. Kirill to intercede on the sailors’ behalf, and His Eminence Metropolitan Anatoly of Sarny and Polesia wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin to the same end.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has also turned to Met. Onuphry for help in the matter.
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