Department for External Church Relations
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Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary calls upon Hungary’s Prime Minister to help liberate Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav from prison
DECR Communication Service, 09.08.2023.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary sent on 9 August a latter to Hungary’s Prime Minister drawing his attention to the fate of the hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav, convicted under far-fetched accusations by a Ukrainian court to five years in prison.
The letter published by the website of the Diocese of Hungary reads:
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
I am appealing to you as the leader of a government that is doing much not only for preserving and for augmenting Christian spiritual and moral values in Hungary but also for helping Christians persecuted in various part of the world.
On August 7, the Vinnitsa City Court sentenced Metropolitan Jonathan (Yeletskikh) who was incriminated in ‘actions aimed at a forceful change or overthrow of the constitutional system and assuming power’ as well as ‘encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine’.
Metropolitan Jonathan is a hierarch with a long service. At the turn of the last century80s and 90s, he was the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersky Lavra and made his contribution to the revival of this shrine, from which monks are now driven out by a decision of the authorities. Later he sequentially headed several dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and since August 2014 - the Dioceses of Tulchin and Bratslav.
His Eminence Jonothan is an outstanding ecclesial composer whose compositions are performed by many leading choirs.
Please, dear Mr Prime Minister, do everything possible to draw the attention of the international community to the unprecedented decision of the Vinnitsa City Court and to achieve the release of the venerable hierarch if not for some other considerations then for considerations of humanitarian nature. His Eminence is 74; he is suffering from diabetes in a severe form. The deprivation of liberty means nothing but the death sentence.
May the Lord preserve you and the God-loving country of Hungary!
+ Hilarion
Metropolitan of Budapest and Hungary
Patriarch
Department Chairman
Sermons
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06.11.2020