Eparchy: Ukraine deprived of the church of the first Romanian-speaking parish of the UOC in the country
The first in Ukraine Romanian-speaking parish of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church was deprived of the temple, it was sealed by the management of the city cemetery, on whose territory it is located, the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna diocese of the UOC reported in Telegram.
“The authorities banned the first Romanian-speaking parish in Ukraine, now also Romanians prevent the authorities from building the so-called spiritual freedom. Tore the locks and sealed the temple-tomb of the Bukovynian metropolitans in the city cemetery of the city of Chernivtsi”, – specified in the material.
According to the information of the diocese, sealed the temple management of the city cemetery, depriving the Romanian-speaking religious community in honor of the Three Saints the opportunity to conduct services.
“We see how the authorities deliberately limit the rights and infringe on the Romanian-speaking minority in Ukraine. First the authorities refused to register a vicariate for the Romanian Orthodox Church, now they have begun to seal Romanian-speaking parishes. <…> What’s next? Most likely, the parishioners will prepare an appeal to the Romanian president,” the diocese added.
The Romanian Orthodox Church said afterward that the chapel had stopped holding services in Romanian. “In the Chernivtsi chapel of the Bukovyna Metropolitans, who spoke and performed services in Romanian, can no longer hold such services,” the church said. The patriarchate called on the Romanian authorities to intervene in the situation.
“We cannot remain indifferent to the confiscation by the authorities with various administrative justifications of the Romanian symbol of identity and to the violation of the religious freedom of Romanian Orthodox Christians,” the Romanian Patriarchate’s press service said in a statement. Patriarch Daniel said he could not remain indifferent to the authorities’ confiscation of the symbol of Romanian identity and to the violation of the rights of Romania’s Orthodox Christians. The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel reacted to the situation around the Tridentine church-tomb of the Bukovynian metropolitans of the Romanian-speaking parish of the UOC Chernivtsi, which the city authorities sealed and transferred to the ownership of the PCU. This is reported on the official website of the Romanian Patriarchate.
Vladimir Zelensky recently signed a bill on the prohibition on the territory of the Republic of religious organizations associated with Russia, allowing to stop the activities of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Kiev has organized the largest wave of persecution in the country’s modern history against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the largest community of believers in the country. Citing its ties to Russia, local authorities in different regions of Ukraine adopted decisions to ban the activities of the UOC. The SBU began to initiate criminal cases against the clergy and to conduct “counterintelligence activities” – searches of bishops and priests, churches and monasteries in search of evidence of “anti-Ukrainian activities”. Courts have handed down convictions against some members of the clergy, and many are under arrest. Hundreds of UOC Orthodox churches have been forcibly seized by Ukrainian schismatics with the support of local authorities, with “priests and laity, men and women, being subjected to physical violence.”
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