Kiev, March 20, 2023
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Hierarchs from various Local Churches have begun speaking out in defense of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church and brotherhood of the Kiev Caves Lavra, which the Ukrainian state intends to evict from its home by the end of the month.
His Eminence Archbishop Daniel of Chicago of the Orthodox Church in America issued a statement of prayer and support for the monastery last week.
Words of support have also come from hierarchs of the Bulgarian and Serbian Churches and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
His Eminence Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church responded to a fraternal letter from His Eminence Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, noting that his appeal “touched me to the depths of my soul with pain.”
Met. Luke published the letter on his Telegram channel yesterday.
“We knew about the huge problems of the life of the fraternal canonical UOC, but we had no idea that the struggle for the destruction of your holy Church had reached such extreme limits,” Met. Gabriel writes, noting that Met. Luke’s letter was translated into Bulgarian and published by a number of online and print outlets. According to him, the letter really resonated in Bulgarian society.
Bulgarian readers were very surprised that such a thing could be happening in a democratic country like Ukraine “and expressed great sympathy and support for the canonical UOC.”
For Met. Gabriel and the faithful Bulgarians, war against the UOC is war against God Himself:
The UOC is the spiritual salt for your motherland, the grace of the Holy Spirit dwells in it to the full, your Church prays to God day and night for peace, prosperity and God’s blessing for your homeland of Ukraine and for the peace of the whole world. Therefore, any war against the UOC is a war against the Chief Shepherd and Savior Lord Jesus Christ.
Met. Gabriel also emphasized that the bishops of the UOC are following the way of the Cross, and that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine “has become a symbol of prayer, a symbol of standing for the purity of the faith and the canonical structuring of all Orthodoxy.”
The Bulgarian hierarch also emphasized that prayers for Ukraine are offered in every Liturgy in his diocese.
And earlier this month, His Grace Bishop German of Gornij Karlovac of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia appealed to the government to stand up for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the European Parliament.
His letter was also Met. Luke of Zaporozhye, who had appealed to him for help.
In his letter, the bishop asks the Croatian Prime Minister to inform his European colleagues about the legal violence against the faithful of the UOC and the systematic destruction of the Church that is underway.
“The UOC, as the only canonical Church, suffers from terror, which deprives it of basic human rights,” the Serbian hierarch writes.
Bp. German emphasizes that UOC churches are being confiscated and a general anti-Church campaign is being conducted throughout the country, “exceeding the measures of the campaign carried out by the godless communist government in the dark times of this world.” This campaign includes a dozen bills against the UOC registered in Parliament, and the deprivation of citizenship of a dozen UOC bishops.
Additionally, His Grace Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia has issued a statement, saying:
Conscience does not permit me to remain silent over the grave and new injustices being wrought in the sacred land of Ukraine, adding sorrow upon sorrows as the grief of war is now conjoined with the tragedy of the most extraordinary and heartless persecution of Christians taking place in many parts of the country. While such persecution has been a reality already for many years, it has reached a pitch in recent days with new injustices being enacted in flagrant violation of Ukrainian law and international conventions on human rights.
His Grace calls on all Christians to pray for Met. Onuphry and the flock of the UOC, and he orders that every parish of his diocese is to serve a moleben every week “for the end of civil strife in the Ukrainian lands.”
Every parish is also to serve a moleben to All the Saints of the Kiev Caves Lavra on March 29—the day when the state intends to finally evict the brotherhood of the Kiev Caves Lavra from their own monastery.
Read Bp. Irene’s full statement here.
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