Department for External Church Relations
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Metropolitan Savva of Warsaw and All Poland: We are unpleasantly surprised by the fact that Orthodox parishes are captured by force in Ukraine
‘We are unpleasantly surprised by the fact that Orthodox parishes are captured and the Orthodox are subjected to discrimination in Ukraine. Where is the state power, which does not defend people and fails to ensure their religious rights? Ukraine wants to be a democratic state, but there must be order in a democracy’, said the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Savva of Warsaw and All Poland, during his meeting with Archpriest Nikolay Danilevich, vice-chairman of the department for external church relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), who is in Warsaw for an OSCE conference.
During the meeting, which took place on October 1, 2015, at the metropolitan’s residence, Archpriest Nikolay informed His Beatitude about the present situation concerning the rights of the UOC faithful as some local councils have adopted discriminative decisions with regard to the UOC and its churches have been captured. Metropolitan Savva, on his part, spoke about the status and rights of the Orthodox Church in Poland, regulated by a special state law adopted in 1992 whereby the Orthodox minority in this Catholic country enjoys all the necessary rights.
His Beatitude also spoke about the situation concerning the Ss Cyril and Methodius Monastery in Ujkovice, which was closed by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Polish Orthodox Church for various canonical violations. Among them are cases in which the monastery clergy concelebrated with representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC KP), which is not recognized by the world Orthodoxy. It was noted that the number of Ukrainians has noticeably increased in the Polish Orthodox churches today, and the local clergy give them the proper pastoral care.
Metropolitan Savva said he prayed for Ukraine in this crucial time for the Ukrainian state and conveyed words of fraternal support to the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine.
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