Ukrainian authorities have no right to dispose of UOC sanctuaries - head of BOC

The head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl, Veniamin, has said that the Ukrainian authorities have no right to dispose of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s relics. This is reported by TASS.

So the Metropolitan commented on the agreements between Kiev and the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the removal of valuables from large monasteries of the UOC for «storage».

«Regarding the transfer of relics, shrines, whether there is confirmation of this, I do not know, but the very fact of the possibility of such a decision, of course, is unacceptable. If the church asked for it and it would be a decision between church structures, it is one thing. But if the state decides and transfers, and in fact, takes away the church’s property, then, of course, this is not even part of universal human norms, let alone spiritual laws,» Metropolitan Veniamin said.