Washington, D.C., July 15, 2021
Photo: mospat.ru
The first annual International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C. began on Tuesday and wraps up today. Among the many speakers from a variety of religious and political backgrounds was His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR).
Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is also scheduled to present today.
In his speech, Met. Hilarion pinpointed several countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe where Christians face serious persecution, reports the DECR.
“Today, freedom of religion is violated to some extent in many countries. In some regions of the world, Christians are being killed, driven out of their homes, and their temples and shrines are being desecrated. This situation causes us extreme concern,” His Eminence began.
Christians face persecution and their numbers are declining throughout the Middle East—including in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Libya, Met. Hilarion specified. Unfortunately, such a situation is typical in countries where the centuries-old balance between religious communities has been violated, including by the violent regime change.
“There is still no democracy in either Iraq or Libya. This situation is extremely difficult for Christians, since they were the first victims of political cataclysms organized from outside,” the Metropolitan lamented.
The center of Christian persecution is gradually shifting to certain African countries, including Nigeria and Ethiopia, he added.
“I would like to express the hope that the religious and human rights organizations represented here today will be able to form a united front for providing protection and assistance to the persecuted Christians of the Middle East and North Africa,” the Russian hierarch said. He made a similar call in December for Christians to form an alliance in defense of persecuted African Christians.
His Eminence then told the crowd about the deplorable situation in Ukraine today, where the largest religious organization, which unites millions of Ukrainians under the leadership of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, is deprived of its rights by state and local authorities and is persecuted by schismatics who violently seize churches and physically assault both clergy and laity alike.
The communities often win court cases against the schismatics, but the decisions are not enforced, Met. Hilarion noted. Thus, many parish communities are forced to pray outside, even in winter, and to build new churches.
The DECR Chairman also spoke of the laws adopted under Poroshenko’s rule that give a legal foundation for schismatics to seize parishes and mandate the forceful renaming of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
In conclusion, the Metropolitan called for the creation of a common front for the protection of the rights of believers in all countries of the world where these rights are violated.
Interestingly, Summit speakers also include former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, both of whom, it is well-known, played important roles in the creation of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” that persecutes the Orthodox faithful in Ukraine.
Met. Hilarion was also scheduled to meet with Brownback on the sidelines of the conference.
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