Patriarch Kirill made a statement regarding the conviction of Metropolitan Jonathan

On August 7, 2023, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow issued a statement regarding the Ukrainian court’s conviction of Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin, who was sentenced to five years in prison. This was reported by the Khrizma Center with reference to the website of the Patriarchy.

“This lawless decision was preceded by numerous attempts to put pressure on Bishop Jonathan, who, in spite of everything, remained faithful to his Church and fellow believers in Christ. I personally know Metropolitan Jonathan from the years of his studies and labors at the Leningrad Theological Academy. Back in the late 1980s years, the state security organs of an atheistic state unsuccessfully tried to intimidate him. And their followers, modern fighters against the Church of Christ, continued this shameful deed, passing an unjust verdict,» the statement says.

The Patriarch noted that “an elderly and seriously ill bishop, a well-known church composer in the Orthodox world, was sentenced to 5 years in prison with confiscation of property on absurd charges, including “actions aimed at forcibly changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or at seizing state power” , as well as «encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.»

“All these accusations are absolutely insignificant, and the so-called evidence is falsified. His Grace Jonathan, like the whole Church, prays for peace, calls for the spiritual unity of Holy Russia, and also defends the rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, denouncing the canonical untruth of the schism. It is for this that he was convicted In this court decision dictated by hatred for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, we see another act of blatant violation of religious freedom, an example of persecution of faith,» he said.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church called on the world community, religious and political leaders, human rights organizations «to pay attention to the purposeful policy of the Ukrainian authorities aimed at destroying the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, at continuing the unpunished persecution of its hierarchs and clerics, monastics and laity.»