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The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Onuphry, is a self-governing, canonical Orthodox Church on the territory of Ukraine. His Eminence is a native born Ukrainian, the same as the vast majority of his fellow UOC hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and parishioners. The UOC is the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine to which 70% of all Ukrainians belonged prior to the war.
The UOC, since the 2014 coup in Kiev, has faced severe and escalating persecution. This has included the forcible seizure of parishes, physical abuse of clergy and parishioners, arrest of clergy, desecration of icons and Churches, intentional targeting for military attacks, and more. Two laws have been proposed since 2016 that would outright ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church across the nation. Thanks be to God that neither of them has yet been enacted.
Recently the situation in Ukraine has gotten even worse. The Ukrainian government has organized searches of monasteries, churches, and diocesan administrations that have resulted in allegations of planting “pro-Russian” evidence. The Ukrainian Security Service has opened cases against hierarchs and clergy on the basis of trumped up charges. Local administrations continue to declare bans on the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Worst of all, President Zelensky issued a decree on December 1st that ordered:
- The National Security and Defense Council to instruct the government to submit a bill to Parliament within two months that would ban religious organizations “affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation.”
- The State Service for Ethnopoiltics and Freedom of Conscience to examine within two months the statues of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for any “church-canonical connection with the Moscow Patriarchate and, if necessary, to take measures provided for by law.”
- To verify within two months the legality of the presence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at the Kiev Caves Lavra, which is owned by the Ukrainian state.
- All national security bodies to intensify their measures “to identify and counter the subversive activities of Russian special services in the religious environment of Ukraine.” Personal sanctions will be applied as necessary.
- The State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience must be reformed and placed under the direct authority of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers “to really protect the rights and legitimate interests of Ukrainians and the state.”
President Zelensky ordered these actions, despite the fact that Elena Bogdan, the head of State Service for Ethnopolitics for Ukraine, confirmed that the statutes of the UOC adopted at the Council in May 2022 show no connection to the Russian Orthodox Church. Further, the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” has no need of the Kiev Caves Lavra, as they have only 50 monks in all of Kiev.
The Ukrainian Government is entirely supported by Western, primarily US, tax payer funds. Without NATO weapons, mercenaries, money, and logistical support – the Ukrainian Government would have no ability to either continue its war effort or persecute the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Regardless of how any of us feel about this war, our involvement makes us at least indirectly responsible for Christian persecution.
If we remain silent now, rest assured we will answer for that silence at the Dread Judgment Seat of Christ.
Please sign and share the petition below calling for the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, all Orthodox jurisdictions in the West, all official Orthodox Christian ministries and institutions of higher education, all human rights organizations, the Roman Catholic Church, all other Christian bodies of good will, and any other concerned organizations to immediately draft statements decrying the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and demanding its immediate cessation.
Christians in the West must speak with one voice – the persecution of a canonical Orthodox Church is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.
Non-Orthodox Christians are also welcome to sign and show their support. Please indicate your church affiliation in the field asking for Jurisdiction / Denomination.
The signatures collected, after the close of the petition on 1/15/2023, will be forwarded to the Assembly of Bishops and to each canonical jurisdiction in the US, Canada, and Western Europe. The totals by jurisdiction and country will be sent to secular media, human rights organizations, Roman Catholic media channels, and published on social media.
This is your opportunity to stand up for fellow Orthodox Christians. Please do not let our fellow Christians suffer in silence. Sign the petition and share it as widely as you can.
Click the Read the Petition link below to read the text of the petition, or scroll to the very bottom where it is repeated, or click here to skip down to it.
Please Note: You will need to confirm your email address for your signature to count! After signing, please check your inbox.
We Demand an End to Christian Persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
We are gathering signatures for this petition on our Orthodox Reflections Website, rather than on Change.org or competing sites. This is for two reasons. First, petition sites have been using gathered email addresses for fundraising – both directly and via resales of email lists. Orthodox Reflections does not fund raise, accept donations, or sell/share email addresses with any organization. (Anyone wishing to thank us for our work is encouraged to donate to support Orthodox missions.) Your email addresses and other information are secure with us. We will only use it for this purpose only. If you want to hear from us on a regular basis, that is up to you as you can opt-in for future mailings. Second, the petition sites support many causes which we, as Orthodox Christians, find unacceptable and do not wish to be associated with.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the canonical church in Ukraine headed by Metropolitan Onuphry. Prior to the war, approximately 70% of the population of Ukraine belonged to the UOC. Ukrainians overwhelmingly supported their Church, despite having been subjected to politically motivated persecution for many years. The violations of human rights directed at Orthodox Christian in Ukraine have included: forcible seizure / closure of parishes, unlawful arrests, physical abuse, abusive searches of holy sites, desecrations of holy objects, intentional targeting of parishes and holy sites for military attack, and acts of physical intimidation. Recently, local governments have banned the Ukrainian Church from even operating in their areas. President Zelensky of Ukraine has threatened to make this ban nationwide.
We, the undersigned Orthodox Christians and allied Christians of good conscience, note three things. First, the situation in Ukraine is unjustified Christian persecution that violates all global norms. Second, the Ukrainian Government is wholly dependent on Western financial and military support for its continued existence. Therefore, Christians in the West bear a substantial responsibility to speak for the Ukrainian victims of persecution. Third, protests from official organizations matter more to those in power than collections of citizens. Therefore, we signers of this petition call upon the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, all Orthodox jurisdictions in the West, all official Orthodox Christian ministries and institutions of higher education, all human rights organizations, the Roman Catholic Church, all other Christian bodies of good will, and any other concerned organizations to immediately draft statements decrying the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and demanding its immediate cessation.
We cannot be silent in the face of Christian persecution enabled by our own governments. Please join us in ending the persecution of the Body of Christ in Ukraine.
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Slovakia United States 
I think…….
May be Patriarch Bartholomew is the new horseman of the Apocalypse?
Believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) do not want to see the Patriarch of Constantinople in their country, so they organized religious processions, hold pickets and demonstrations, launched a flash mob on social networks through which they called on Bartholomew to stop sowing strife between parishioners and provoking a war on religious grounds.
These feuds on religious grounds began back in 2018, when, at the initiative of the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, a schismatic structure was created – the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU), which was formed by merging two other schismatic “churches” – the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate” and “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church”. And in 2019, the new schismatic structure “OCU” received a tomos of autocephaly (independence) from Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople for only $25 million in cash, which Bartholomew received from Petro Poroshenko.
As soon as Kyiv received a tomos from the Patriarch of Constantinople, a wave of raider seizures swept across the country. Therefore, today the Orthodox of Ukraine do not want to see Bartholomew in their country
At the same time, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is apolitical and, unlike the OCU, does not fight for primacy, power, territory, or something like that. As St. Patriarch Tikhon wrote back in 1923, “any attempts, no matter who they come from, to plunge the Church into a political struggle must be rejected and condemned.”
Despite the constant brainwashing, threats and persecution from the Ukrainian authorities, the schismatics failed to win the sympathy of the Ukrainians.
I do not want to hear about Bartholomew as Patriarch of Constantinople and I would like to ask you – dear Dear Representatives of the site of Orthodox Reflections, to create a PETITION to demand the other patriarchs to remove Patriarch Bartholomew.
I hope that a lot of people would sign this petition.
My best regards to all your team
God bless all of you!
Your sister in Christ
Tetyana
Diabolism,dances and satanism near the walls of the Kyiv Caves Lavra.
“FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING” (Luke 23:34)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0OcgcL97Zo
Dear Christians of all the world!!!
Dear Representatives of the site of Orthodox Reflections!
Please look at this video in youtube – how President Zelensky,the ukrainian authorities, the ukrainian security forces and the ukrainian police humiliate our Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv Caves Lavra.
Shame on them!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h25nRo6rYL0
God bless you!!!
Your sister in Christ
Tetyana
Dear Christians!
Dear Representatives of the site of Orthodox Reflections!
Please pay your attention to what is happening now in the Kiev Caves Lavra in Ukraine!
In Ukraine, legislation DOES NOT protect human rights!!!! President Zelensky and the ukrainian authorities, the security forces, the police,the media as well as the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, headed by the minister Oleksandr Tkachenko treat the clergy – monks, believers-parishioners of the UOC and Metropolitan Pavel as ANIMLAS!!!!!!.
Here is this information from the article of UOJ
https://spzh.news/en/news/72917-prosecution-60-days-of-arrest-and-bracelet-wearing-for-the-lavras-abbot
Prosecution: 60 days of arrest and wearing of bracelet for Lavra’s abbot
The prosecutor read out the text of suspicion to the Lavra’s abbot, Metropolitan Pavel, who is being applied a measure of restraint in the Shevchenkivsky Court of Kyiv.
The prosecutor’s office asks 60 days of house arrest and wearing a bracelet for Metropolitan Pavel, as well as prohibition on using social networks so that hierarch does not record appeals to believers, Espreso.TV reports.
The prosecutor read out the text of the suspicion to the abbot of the Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel, for whom the Shevchenko Court of Kyiv is choosing a measure of restraint today, the UOJ reports.
“The investigation established that starting from February 24, 2022, after the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation, Petro Lebed (Metropolitan Pavel) decided to justify the aggression of the Russian Federation as the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra by communicating with the parishioners of the monastery,” the prosecutor said.
After that, the prosecutor referred to a telephone conversation between Metropolitan Pavel and a certain Tamara Fedyuk, in which Vladyka Pavel allegedly also “justified the aggression of the Russian Federation.”
The prosecutor added that all the conversations of Metropolitan Pavel underwent a linguistic examination in the Ministry of Justice, which confirms “the justification of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began in 2014.”
The prosecutor demands to choose a preventive measure in the form of round-the-clock house arrest with the wearing of an electronic bracelet. In addition, the abbot should be prohibited “to record videos with a public appeal to the citizens of Ukraine and publish them on social networks and the Internet.”
As the UOJ reported earlier, Metropolitan Pavel arrived at the Shevchenkivsky Court in Kyiv.
PLEASE HELP US!!!!!
God bless all of you
Your sister in Christ
Tetyana
How the The Security Service of Ukraine “SBU” took away the vicar of Lavra – Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chornobyl on April 1, 2023
On April 1, around 7:30 a.m., the SBU employees handed over suspicion to the vicar of the Kyiv Caves Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chornobyl.
Vladyka Metropolitan Pavel is accused of violating the equality of citizens based on religious beliefs (Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). It is about statements regarding the “OCU” and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, made by him in the video message “We ask for justice for our Church.”
He is also charged with Article 436-2: Justification, recognition as legal, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants.
To which the Metropolitan Pavel replied as follows: “I condemned, condemn and will condemn all attempts on our state, and what Russia and Putin have done is not justified. I told you, and always stood, stand and will stand in defense of my Motherland”.
At 12 o’clock the Metropolitan was summoned for questioning. After that, the issue of choosing a preventive measure will be decided.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7-IM1ZIkvA
Radical provocations near the Lavra: “homework” from the authorities?
How “activists” tried to expel the clergy and believers from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
On March 30, 2023, radicals came to the Lavra to expel the UOC. And the day before, instructions were sent to the Internet, telling the nationalists exactly how to provoke monks and believers in order to provoke aggression in them, to record it on video and show it to the international community. The task is to present the UOC as “terrorists” who can and should be expelled from the Lavra and generally destroyed.
As SPJ reported, combat veterans, in particular, spoke on the side of believers.
https://spzh.news/ua/zashhita-very/72911-provokatsiji-radikaliv-bilja-lavri-domashnje-zavdannja-vid-vladi
Radicals about their purpose in Lavra: EU must consider UOC terroristsThe radicals say that their task is to provoke the believers of the UOC to aggression so that the Europeans perceive them as terrorists.
The instructions of the leader of the radicals Yevgeny Karas, where he explains that provocations against believers in the Lavra are needed in order to provoke them to aggression and thereby present them as terrorists in the eyes of the international community, have been leaked to the Net. The recording was posted on the Lavra live telegram channel.
“The task is to troll all the most aggressive, to troll Pasha Mercedes (Metropolitan Pavel, abbot of the Kyiv Caves Lavra, as he is called by certain Ukrainian media and radicals – Ed.), to film that they behave like cattle. But you can’t fight here. If they start beating you, you just tell them that they are rednecks. You can say – police, help, etc.,” Karas says in a secret instruction for his minions.
According to him, their task is “to act as a catalyst for the conflict, to show that they behave like aggressors. Because if the special forces come there to take away the Lavra, all their aggressive behavior will help a lot. So that everyone, including Europeans, would say that this is some kind of a terrorist group, not monks.”
Recall that in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, believers defend their shrine.
https://spzh.news/en/news/72859-radicals-about-their-purpose-in-lavra-eu-must-deem-the-uoc-as-terrorists
Questions about Crimea and OCU: Radicals explain how to provoke in the Lavra
The radicals were given the task of “choosing lone targets” for their provocations.
C14 leader Yevhen Karas urged his supporters to come to the Lavra and told how exactly to provoke the believers of the UOC. A recording of the briefing hit the social networks and was published on the Lavra live telegram channel.
“Divide into twos and threes, three is ideal. One, more talkative and cheerful, is speaking as the other two are filming. One is nearby, the other is 10 meters away. The one that films close does it imperceptibly, only the legs, we need only to hear. Perhaps it will be possible to fix the moment of aggression. The one from afar will definitely be able to capture the entire moment of the conflict. The one that speaks has to troll and ask uncomfortable questions,” Karas instructed.
He gave his henchmen a whole list of “uncomfortable” questions, including, “Did you call on people to go to war?”; “How can you comment that Sergey Zhurikov was one of the first militants?”; “Why didn’t they kick Girkin out of the Lavra?”; “Whose Crimea?”; “Why don’t they want to join the OCU?”
Karas called the last question about the OCU “boring”, the rest, in his opinion, will surely trigger aggression in people, which needs to be filmed.
Karas also gave his people the task of “choosing lonely targets.”
“The priest goes to talk on the phone. Follow him straight and listen to what he says there. You have a right to do it. Just mock and tease them so that they fly off the handle. And don’t be afraid that something will happen. A granny pouring yogurt on you or kicking you is the maximum you can expect,” said the C14 leader.
“This is war,” he said. “Holy shit – to recapture the Lavra! This is a global task, and if you help in this at least half a percent…”
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, believers defend their shrine.
https://spzh.news/en/news/72860-questions-about-crimea-and-ocu-radicals-explain-how-to-provoke-in-the-lavra
Authorities talk about “physical cleansing” of representatives of UOC
Mykhaylo Podolyak, adviser to the OP head, said it was more convenient to “physically cleanse” the UOC at the beginning of the war, but it is still possible today.
One of the spokespersons of power, Mykhaylo Podolyak, said that he did not see a problem in purging the representatives of the UOC physically. He stated this on the air of Channel 24.
Mentioning that the UOC allegedly “wants to remain an element of Russian influence on Ukrainian statehood,” Podolyak mentioned the physical elimination of representatives of the Church.
“The UOC wants the Ukrainian state to be weak, one that they internally will constantly provoke and shake. We had a unique chance during the first 3-6 months of the war, when it was possible to solve everything simply and painlessly. Then it was possible to simply physically cleanse many pro-Russians. Today it is a little more difficult, but, again, isn’t much. This does not mean that it is impossible,” Podolyak said.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Podolyak, there will be only the OCU in Ukraine.
https://spzh.news/en/news/72861-authorities-talk-about-physical-cleansing-of-representatives-of-uoc
Dear Christians!
Dear Representatives of the site of Orthodox Reflections!
Please pay your attention to what is happening now inside and near the Kiev Caves Lavra in Ukraine! Parishioners and clergy – monks do not want to leave the Kiev Caves Lavra. But ukrainian TV channels (especially the fifth channel – the channel of Petro Poroshenko, who created the schismatic OCU) lie and slander concerning the parishioners and priests of the Kiev Caves Lavra ( UOC). With the help of well-paid journalists (their salary is equal to “30 pieces of silver” that Judas Iscariot received for the betrayal of Christ) – they make PROVOCATIONS. In Ukraine, legislation DOES NOT protect human rights!!!! President Zelensky and the ukrainian authorities, the security forces, the police,the media as well as the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, headed by the minister Oleksandr Tkachenko and the head (SHE IS WOMAN!!!!) of the commission of the Ministry of Culture – treat the believers of the UOC as animals or the third-class citizens. Please – make it known to the whole world!! Please help us – the parishioners of the Canonical UOC, led by the Primate His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry – to restore JUSTICE!!!
God bless you!
Thank you!
Your sister in Christ
Tetyana
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Never thought that the Orthodox church in general would succumb to the secularism of the world. No FEAR OF GOD,UNBELIEVABLE.