Serbian Patriarch spoke in support of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

The Primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Porfiry, has sent a letter to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, in which he expressed his support in connection with the adoption in the Verkhovna Rada of Law No. 8371, aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is reported by the official website of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

“With anxiety in our hearts we, dear brother in Christ, feel that on the example of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a new totalitarianism is being introduced, in which even the saying of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine is invalid, which says: “Let everyone believe as he wishes”, — Patriarch Porphyrius stated.

The patriarch concluded that the relegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to a banned organization further legitimizes the already permanent persecution, arrests and harassment of its spiritual hierarchy and believing people, enables further seizure of its property or, more precisely, repeats the scenario also from the times of the Roman persecution of the Church of Christ.

“Our prayers, our hopes, our thoughts, as well as our sincere wishes that those in charge turn away from their madness to the knowledge of justice and truth, and that peace, brotherly love and harmony reign again in your homeland,” — His Holiness the Patriarch added.

Recall that on August 20, 2024, in the building of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in Sofia, the Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Daniel, met with a delegation from the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria, headed by the Ambassador of the United States to the Republic Kenneth Mertens. The parties discussed a number of topical issues, among which the topic of persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was mentioned.