Metropolitan Antoniy Denounces Violent Seizure of Church in Brovary: “This Is an Act of Enmity and Lawlessness”

Metropolitan Antoniy of Boryspil and Brovary, Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, has commented on the latest seizure of a UOC church that took place on April 30 in the city of Brovary. In his address, he described the incident as an act of lawlessness that has nothing in common with the Christian spirit or church unity. The address was published on the bishop’s YouTube channel.

“Churches built by the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are being taken from the people of God so they cannot pray in them,” the Metropolitan noted. He emphasized that a church is not just a building, but “a place where the Sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated, the Word of God is proclaimed, and human souls are healed.”

He also recalled that the religious community of the seized church had unanimously expressed its desire to remain under the omophorion of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry within the UOC. However, according to the hierarch, state authorities not only ignored this decision but also “illegally re-registered the community under the jurisdiction of the OCU and transferred the church land to their use.”

The Metropolitan voiced deep concern for the fate of the Church: “The seizure of churches is a grave sin against God, against the very essence of Christ’s Church. It is lawlessness that cannot be justified by political expediency or patriotic slogans.” He added: “When those who call themselves Christians use force, anger, and hatred — they depart from the spirit of Christ.”

Metropolitan Antoniy called on the faithful to respond not with violence, but with prayer and faith: “I call on everyone to pray for peace in the Church and in our hearts, in our homeland, so that in the unity of faith and love we may defend Christ’s sanctuary — not with the sword, but with prayer; not with hatred, but with God’s truth.”

The address concluded with hope in divine intervention and justice: “Even if state laws cannot protect us, we believe that God, who conquered death by His Resurrection, will surely defend us, and that justice, with God’s help, will be restored.”

As reported earlier, around 5:00 a.m. on April 30, there was another violent attempt to seize a church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — this time, the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Brovary. According to the “Union of Orthodox Journalists,” a group associated with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine broke into the building using power tools.