“You cannot punish the whole Church as traitors to the motherland,” - the head of the Renovabis Foundation on the ban of the UOC

The head of the German foundation for Eastern Europe Renovabis, Pastor Professor Thomas Schwarz, has criticized attempts by Ukrainian MPs to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Schwartz called on the government to apply individual responsibility if someone violates the laws, and not to ban an entire denomination. About this Thomas Schwartz said in a comment published on the website of the organization.

“You can not punish an entire church with all its believers as traitors to their Ukrainian homeland. Nor can the desire for peace and Christian solidarity throughout the world be denied. Neither all the hierarchs nor the entire church people of this traditional church should be equated with Russian aggressors, even if there are confirmed as well as prosecutable cases of espionage and treason on the part of representatives of the UOC. Such a legislative endeavor by the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, may also complicate the path to the European Union, as well as become a serious burden for coexistence in Ukrainian society,” — said Prof. Schwartz.

Recall, earlier we reported that the Primate of the Assyrian Church of the East Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Ava III sent a letter addressed to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, in which he categorically condemned the Ukrainian government for persecuting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Catholicos noted that he sent letters to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and President of the European Parliament Roberta Metzola, in which he described the plight of the UOC and the violation of the rights of believers in Ukraine.