The Kyiv patriarchate, which is the main rival of the Moscow patriarchate in Ukraine, has denied the information that it plans to seize the churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate.
“The Kyiv patriarchate is not calling for rioting or seizures of the
churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate. We
are calling on our brothers and sisters in the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church of the Moscow patriarchate to unite to form a unified local
Orthodox church. That is why we are not interested in fuelling feuds
with those with whom we want to be united,” the Kyiv patriarchate said
in a statement released by its press service.
At the same time, the authors of the statement said that “the close
relations between the Church and the former president [Viktor
Yanukovych] and the provocative statements made by some archbishops and
priests of the Moscow patriarchate on Maidan activists have outraged
many people.”
The authors of the statement also accused the Russian leaders of
influencing “the former president, causing him to give up the idea of
European integration, which trigged the protests.” The Kyiv patriarchate
also criticized the Russian media for “fuelling “anti-Ukrainian
hysteria.
The Kyiv patriarchate disagreed with the interpretation of the events
in the Pochayiv Lavra and Sumy as seizure attempts, calling the events
“spontaneous public protests.”
The authors of the statement said the Kyiv patriarchate played a big
role in the mediation with Maidan activists, in preventing Maidan
activists from entering the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, which
reports to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate, and
“relieving the tensions around it.”
