MP to Cypriot media: Zelensky personally coordinates persecution of UOC
Ukrainian MP Artem Dmytruk accused the President of organizing religious persecutions in an interview with a Cypriot newspaper.
Ukrainian MP Artem Dmytruk, who is in the United Kingdom, gave an extensive interview to the Cypriot newspaper «Simerini», in which he accused Volodymyr Zelensky of persecuting the UOC.
"Zelensky personally coordinates the seizure of churches and the persecution of Orthodox believers," Dmytruk stated. «His strategic goal is to deprive the people of their spiritual foundation, to destroy our faith, to dismantle the foundation on which Ukraine has stood for centuries." The MP emphasized that "dozens of priests and hierarchs are currently in prisons or under persecution."
Dmytruk pointed out that "recently Zelensky has stripped His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, of Ukrainian citizenship," adding that the President "wants to expel him from the country to pave the way for the complete destruction of the Church".
"For Zelensky, the Church is an enemy. Because it does not lie, does not remain silent, and does not serve politics. And this means that it hinders the establishment of a dictatorship," Dmytruk declared.
Separately, the MP spoke about the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch in the Ukrainian church situation. "Patriarch Bartholomew bears direct and historical responsibility for the deep spiritual wounds inflicted on the Orthodox world," he stated. "His decision in 2018, uncanonical and politically motivated, to intervene in the internal affairs of the Ukrainian Church caused a major religious crisis."
Dmytruk also accused Western countries of complicity in religious persecution. "Western media remain silent because the persecutions are happening in a country they call 'democratic' and support politically and economically," the politician believes. "When the European Union declares the protection of human rights but ignores the mass persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, it betrays its own principles."
In response to frequent accusations of ties with Moscow, Dmytruk said: "I am not a Kremlin agent. I am an Orthodox Christian, a Ukrainian MP, a person who defends his faith and his people. I speak not on behalf of Russia, but on behalf of millions of Ukrainians." He emphasized that in Ukraine "there are at least 6,000,000 believers of our Church. For them, the Orthodox Church is not an 'institution of influence,' but the house of God and their very life."
In conclusion of the interview, Dmytruk appealed to the Orthodox of Greece and Cyprus for support: "Today in Ukraine, our holy Church is enduring brutal persecution. Priests are being arrested, churches are being seized, believers are being humiliated. Pray for us and for peace in our country! This is the most important and most valuable!" he urged.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to a report by an Austrian institute, the Ukrainian government is conducting a systematic campaign against the UOC with denial of citizenship, arrests, and sanctions, despite the support of millions of believers.
