Atlanta, April 10, 2023
Photo: eadiocese.org
More clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia are speaking out in defense of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the brotherhood of the Kiev Caves Lavra.
Earlier this month, the clergy of the southern deaneries of the Eastern American Diocese gathered at the Church of St. Mary of Egypt in Atlanta for a Lenten retreat. The clergy, led by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, adopted a resolution in which they expressed their pain over what is happening in Ukraine and emphasized the Ukrainian roots of ROCOR:
We lament the ongoing fratricidal conflict in Ukraine, which has now entered its second year, and continue to pray for a cessation of hostilities and resumption of peace. Our Diocese has several generations of clergy and faithful from both Russia and Ukraine, who grieve together over the lives lost and the hatred that this war has engendered. We remind everyone that the first of the First Hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), was Metropolitan of Kiev & Galicia prior to the Russian revolution of 1917; the founder of our Diocese, Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko), spent his formative years as a pastor in Volhynia and Pochaev; the spiritual heart of our entire Church Abroad, Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, was infused with the spirit of Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra; and our beloved First Hierarch, Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) of blessed memory, grew up in the Ukrainian-Canadian Diaspora and regularly visited relatives in Ukraine.
These connections make our pain and alarm over the Ukrainian government’s continued persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and her faithful deeply personal. We have watched as crowds have been allowed to harass, jeer, and even physically assault the faithful at the Kiev Caves Lavra who came to defend the brotherhood and the faculty and seminarians of the Kiev Theological Academy from unlawful eviction by the state. We have also seen the many reports of increased forcible seizures of churches and persecution of the clergy and faithful by the schismatic followers of the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” in many parts of the country. Last week, we saw the inexplicable and troubling arrest of His Eminence, Metropolitan Pavel, deputy abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra. These actions and the attempted eviction from the Lavra by the Ukrainian government have drawn condemnation from almost all of the Local and Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, and we join our voices to theirs in entreating the Ukrainian authorities to charge their course of action and allow the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to perform its spiritual functions in peace.
In conclusion, the clergy call upon the U.S. Congress to do everything within its power to protect the UOC:
As patriotic, law-abiding, and dutiful citizens of the United States of America, we also entreat our Congress to take the necessary actions within its power to safeguard the religious freedoms of the clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
There have been many such calls and expressions of support coming from within ROCOR.
The clergy of the northern deaneries of the Eastern American Diocese adopted a similar resolution last month.
On December 8, the Synod of Bishops
expressed its alarm over the aggression and violence directed against the life of the canonical Church on the territory of Ukraine, calling upon all those in positions of authority not to close their eyes but to lift their voices and insist on the reestablishment and observance of the elementary rights and religious freedoms of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, the archpastors, pastors and many millions who constitute the flock of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Later in December, His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Berlin issued a statement to the German public, calling for increased prayers for the persecuted UOC.
In early January, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas sent a message of love, support, and prayers to His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod, the abbot of the persecuted Kiev Caves Lavra, and in February, he made a specific call for the clergy and faithful of his diocese to increase their prayers for the UOC.
In March, a special moleben for Met. Onuphry and the flock of the Ukrainian Church was held at Holy Trinity Monastery, and His Grace Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe has also issued his own call and statement of support.
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