Hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church spoke out in favor of the UOC

The hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Bishop Gerasim (Popovych) of Hornokarlovak, has published an appeal in support of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In it, the bishop drew attention to the blatant facts of violation of the rights of clergy and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The appeal is published on the website of the Hornokarlovak diocese of the UOC.

“Our thoughts and kneeling prayers are addressed to the Lord in connection with the suffering and reckless persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, where our Holy Church suffers daily blows from persecutors of the true faith and from those who do not even shy away from identifying themselves with the dark forces from the depths of hell,” – writes Bishop Gerasim.

The bishop also drew attention to the reckless criminal cases against the episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He is convinced that Ukraine has slipped into open theological persecution, like those that took place at the end of the twentieth century.

“Undoubtedly, today in Ukraine there are new confessors of the Orthodox faith, His Eminence Metropolitans Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav, Pavlo of Vyshgorod and Vicar of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Luka of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol, Theodosius of Cherkassy and Kanev, Arseniy of Sviatogorsk, Longin of Banchenko and many other bishops and priests together with their faithful and steadfast flock. All our previously mentioned brothers are suffering for the truth in fictitious and, above all, false trials and accusations, subjected to imprisonment in dungeons, physical attacks, deprivation of places of prayer and other violations of fundamental human rights,” – the hierarch of the Serbian Church added.

Bishop Gerasim called for justice for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and for increased prayers for the suffering Orthodox Christians of Ukraine.

“We call for justice and love, and ask the Lord to rebuke the unwise persecutors of Christ and His flock, to grant peace to our Holy Church in those areas where you tirelessly serve God, so that the entire fullness of the Church of Christ may be strengthened in His way, may He strengthen you and give you strength to always selflessly surrender to the Lord and persevere in the mission of preserving faith and constancy in your centuries-old hearths. What they are doing to you today is a systematic destruction of Orthodoxy and shameless persecution of Christ, to Whom you testify, confess and love with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your deeds!”, – concluded the bishop.

Recall, earlier we reported that the hierarch of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Archbishop Theodosius of Sebastia, sent congratulatory messages to the Primate and hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In it, Archbishop Theodosius expressed words of support for the episcopate, clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, stating that the Patriarchate of Jerusalem remains committed to supporting canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine.