Destruction of the UOC is the goal of the "deep state" - hierarch of the Belarusian Church

The hierarch of the Belarusian Orthodox Church (MP), vicar of the Holy Dormition Zhirovich Monastery, Archbishop Gury of Novogrudok and Slonim, shared his opinion on who is the ultimate beneficiary of the destruction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In his opinion, behind the persecution and banning of the UOC is the “world elite”, whose ultimate goal is the destruction of Orthodoxy in the world. He told this in an interview with the press service of the Novogrudok diocese of the BOC (MP).

“This is a probable political order of the deep state, the purpose of which is to destroy Orthodoxy in general as the spiritual basis of society. The world elite knows that the teachings of Jesus Christ directly contradict their dark spirituality. Well, by destroying the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), it is possible to finally turn Ukraine into their vassal. By the way, as Robert Amsterdam, an American lawyer of the UOC, told in one of his recent interviews, it was the U.S. authorities who initiated the creation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And today, even if she would provide (as required by the authorities) all the evidence that she has no ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, it would not change anything, ” – said the hierarch.

The archbishop added that despite the ongoing persecution of the UOC, the persecutors themselves very often suffer from their actions without fully realizing it. He cited several fatal cases that occurred with the persecutors of the Church in Ukraine, pointing out that fighting the UOC, God will not be defeated anyway.

“Christ warned His disciples: “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Except that life shows how unsafe it is for the persecutors. And there are many examples of this in the same Ukraine. The 64-year-old Ukrainian ex-deputy Volodymyr Stretovych, who the day before had led a forceful seizure of an Orthodox church near Kiev, crashed to his death in a car accident. Another of the temple invaders tore the cross off the priest’s chest and immediately died on the spot from cardiac arrest. Many, I think, have read how in Kremenets an official of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine died during the inventory of the monastery, the property of which was planned to be given to the schismatics. Everyone also remembers the video that traveled around the world, as a girl with a chainsaw cut down an Orthodox cross on the Maidan in Kiev, and later she committed suicide,” he added.

We will remind, earlier the Manager of Affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) commented on attempts to legislatively ban the UOC. The hierarch recalled that in the history of the Church such situations have repeatedly taken place, but absolutely always turned out to be deplorable for those who initiated anti-church persecution.