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The Representative Office of the Ukrainian People has appealed to the Hellenic Orthodox Church to help stop persecution of believers and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to stop the raiding of churches and monasteries, to restore the rights of believers and the UOC in access to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. As stated in a letter addressed to Archbishop Hieronymus II of Athens and All Hellas, the decision of the church he heads to support the project "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" is a participation in the culture war, "which has nothing to do with the spiritual life of the Ukrainian people", it has brought it new suffering, internal schism and further alienated the peace so needed by Ukraine.
"Before the PCU project, Ukrainians could go to the five Orthodox churches of their choice. The sole purpose of the new church was to continue the war with Russia into which Ukraine has been deliberately dragged by its own politicians and their masters in Britain and the United States. On its cultural front, where battles were fought long before the missile strikes, Ukrainians were imposed the ideology of neo-Nazism, an ugly historical myth, holidays and memorable dates were banned, streets and entire cities were renamed, and monuments were destroyed. Millions of Russian-speaking people have been denied civil rights, and a policy of linguocide of the Russian language has been launched in Ukraine. The deprivation of the Orthodox Church with a thousand-year history meant one more victory, one more tool for manipulation, one more severed root connecting the people with their land. Because this land does not belong to it anymore," the document reads.
Secretary of the Mission Dmytro Vasilets noted that the church in Ukraine is separated from the state, and it is about restoring justice: compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, and other documents such as the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the OSCE Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Security.
"The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is one of the pillars of culture and statehood of the Ukrainian people. Illegal and inherently anti-Christian actions towards the believers and clergy of the UOC must be stopped as soon as possible," summarizes the letter addressed to Jerome II.
As known, the Hellenic Church was the first to recognize the PCU. It is among the largest Orthodox churches in the world, operates on part of the territory of Greece and occupies the 11th place in the diptych of autocephalous local churches.