His Beatitude Anastassy called the sentence to the hierarch of the UOC “senseless persecution.”
On August 11, 2023, His Beatitude Archbishop of Tiran and All Albania Anastassy through His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry, sent a letter to Metropolitan of Tulchin and Bratslav Joanathan in which he expressed his support in the current difficult trials, reports news.church.ua.

“With deep sadness, we are watching the painful trials that you, beloved Most Reverend Vladyka, and your chosen flock are having now,” the letter says. “We empathize with your suffering and, as far as it is possible, we testify to the crimes against the pious Orthodox clergy, pious people, as well as famous shrines of Ukraine.”
The Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church wished Metropolitan of Tulchin to be strengthen by God" and may the Lord make him worthy" in everything to show himself as a as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses,
in stripes, in imprisonments "(2 Cor. 6: 4 -5)".

“In our thoughts and prayers, we are always with you, so that, joining the ranks of the new martyrs, you will be able to endure the present senseless persecution as an Orthodox Christian “by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,
by the word of truth, by the power of God...
As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed" (2 Cor. 6:6-9),” the Primate of the Albanian Church noted.
Let's remind that on August 7, 2023, the Vinnytsia City Court passed a guilty verdict against Bishop Joanathan, on trumped-up charges he was sentenced to five years in prison.
As previously reported by the UOJ, the prosecutor's office will demand an increase of the Metropolitan Jonathan's imprisonment term.

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The military stand at the cathedral and temple in the village of Dovzhok, from where the religious procession to Pochaiv should depart.

On August 18, 2023, employees of the Territorial Recruiting Centre showed up at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of the UOC in Kamyanets-Podilsky and the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in the village of Dovzhok (from where the religious procession to Pochaiv traditionally departs). They began distributing summonses to believers who had come to the city for the cross procession to Pochaiv. This is reported by the UOJ correspondent.
According to him, several men have received a summons.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in Kamyanets-Podilsky, the police cordoned off the cathedral and forced all the people who had come to the city for the religious procession to the Pochaiv Lavra to leave the territory.

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It all started with the illegal ban of the local authorities on pilgrimages in the region. This ban applies exclusively to parishioners of the UOC. No one interfered similar events of other faiths.
On August 18, checkpoints appeared at the entrance to the city of Kamyanets-Podolsky, where people who looked like pilgrims were stopped. Across the country, secret services and police agents stopped buses with believers and recorded their personal data. Made some lists.
Hundreds of believers of the UOC from all over the country gathered today at the cathedral where the pilgrimage to the Pochaev Lavra starts. To honor a pious tradition that is already 200 years old.

During the festive service, the cathedral was surrounded by police officers. They didn’t allow any of the worshipers to leave the territory for a long time.

After, they gave one passage, where they began to stop all the men. Their documents were checked and mobilization orders to the army were massively issued. The police walk around the area armed with assault rifles.
They are trying to intimidate believers and prevent them from praying.

This is a flagrant violation of the rights and freedoms of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.

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🇬🇧IN 5 MINUTES WE WILL TELL HOW "VOLUNTARY TRANSITIONS" ACTUALLY HAPPEN

⚡АНАТОМІЯ РЕЙДЕРСТВА. СХЕМА ЗАХОПЛЕННЯ ХРАМІВ ЗА 5 ХВИЛИН

🔴 SCHEME OF SEIZURE OF UOC TEMPLES

⛪In Ukraine, hundreds of temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have become the property of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, assuring that these are voluntary transitions.

☦️But the vast majority of parishioners of these churches, together with the priests, refuse all these voluntary transitions.

🙏 And after losing of their shrines, they go to pray to huts, sheds, basements, or even to the forest.

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❗ВІДЕО Українською тут: https://youtu.be/fyMjDAU7yy0?si=fXbJiBtcB3iFfVl0
✊Діліться відео - світ має знати правду❗

The ruling archbishop of the UOC Zaporizhzhya diocese, Metropolitan Luka, in his telegram channel addressed the judges of the Zaporizhzhya District Court with a request to provide the facts of «anti-state activity» of the UOC Zaporizhzhya Diocese.
The bishop reminded that on July 2, Zaporizhzhya City Council adopted an illegal decision n70 as to the termination of relations with the religious organizations of the UOC «Moscow Patriarchate»,
The first paragraph of this decision says that the ruling center of our diocese is placed in the aggressor country. By this decision, the Zaporizhzhya City Council agrees with the slander, wich is nowadays spread by the medias. I understand the motives of the decision what the city council deputies have. They are not interested in what is written in our Charter (an official document of the church), because they have different tasks», wrote the hierarch, he also added that the diocese filed a lawsuit against this decision «with the hope that laws still work in our society».
But the judge hurried to convince us otherwise, he said. No, the laws do not work in our country, lawlessness rules here. Such articles of the Ukrainian Constitution as n.21, n.24, n.34 have no significance anymore. Despite the fact that none courts of the country has recognized the UOC as «an organization that threatens or undermines the national security of Ukraine», the Zaporizhzhya District Administrative Court did not satisfy the application».
Archbishop demanded that the judge present the facts of our
"anti-state activities"». The bishop asked him to explain, How is the Zaporizhzhya diocese governed by the aggressor country, where are the ruling levers and what are the mechanisms of this governance? On what grounds did the City Council decide that the aggressor country had anything to do with us?»
The Metropolitan reminded that parishioners of the diocese collected millions of hryvnia to to buy medical equipment, donated four and a half thousand liters of blood. We helped the military hospital and refugees, our parishioners are fighting on the front line. By what right the deputies of the Zaporizhzhya City Council slander and lie on our parishioners»? - asks the hierarch.
He stated, that for giving a response, the judge found nothing better than to rewrite the city council’s decision based on false propaganda slogans as an argument for refusal!!! It means that no verification of the facts about the decision has been made, because everyone understands - such facts do not exist, they can not exist».

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On September 24, on the air of the Ukrainian TV channel “Espresso,” a high-level member of the Ukrainian Parliament from the governmental party “Servant of the People”, Mykyta Poturaev, called for pressure on the deputies who refuse to vote for the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Notice that he is also the head of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy in the Parliament.

The same day, a well-known right-wing radical, leader of the extremist far-right organization C14, Evhen Karas, responded to this call in some media.

Karas made a publication on his Telegram channel calling for the ban on the UOC and for hanging (‼️) those MPs who refuse to vote for the ban of the Church.

He made it in a form of survey, where you can vote either to ban the Church and hang parliamentarians or not. More than 54 thousand respondents – 98 % voted positively as for 26th of September.

In his question, Karas implies persecution of the largest denomination in Ukraine and uses the propaganda stamp “ROC FSB” for the UOC.

He deliberately uses this false cliche to incite hatred against Orthodox Ukrainians.

Today, Karas is an active serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a media person. He calls for reprisals against dozens of MPs. He urged to beat them up (literally “to punch them in their faces”) and promised to do it on his own if they refuse to vote for banning the Church he hates.

After the Speaker of Parliament Stefanchuk told the press that there are not enough votes in the VR (Parliament) to pass this law, Karas asked for the lists of the MPs who do not support the ban in order to punish and force them to do it.

Evhen Karas is known in Ukraine for his far-right radical actions and violent attacks on people, parties and peaceful gatherings. The members of his organization are accused of political murder of the Ukrainian opposition journalist and writer Oles Buzyna.

In April 2023, Karas also gave instructions for provocations in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, when the authorities wanted to take the monastery away from the UOC and needed to cast the Church and Orthodox Christians as an enemy.

This time he has made a public request for radical actions.

So, we can see that the votes to ban the UOC are collected through public threats of reprisals and pressure sanctioned by the authorities of Ukraine.

No doubt, this is a challenge to democracy, a challenge to civil society in Ukraine, and a challenge to Europe itself. There must be a loud and clear response of the civilized world to these extremist and barbaric tendencies in Ukraine.


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The relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada has already agreed on two packages of amendments to tighten the anti-church bill.

In preparation for the second reading of the government bill No. 8371 aimed at prohibiting the UOC, its provisions are being strengthened with elements from alternative legislative initiatives. This was reported by the head of the parliamentary committee on humanitarian and information policy, Mykyta Poturaev, in a comment to pravda.com.ua.
He stated that the committee had already approved two sets of amendments.
"The first one partially considers 'Kniazhytsky's project,' but only in relation to the definitions of the ROC and similar matters, without 'the state OCU'," the MP told the publication. "The second package relates to simplifying the procedures for transitioning between different jurisdictions. For example, monasteries will be able to transition based on their own decision without the consent of diocesan bishops or the UOC Synod. Moreover, they want to integrate the provisions of yet another alternative project, humorously referred to by deputies as 'Maliuk's bill,' named after the head of the SBU."
Poturaev mentioned that the committee is considering that a consolidated text of the draft law may be developed by the end of November or the beginning of December.
As reported by the UOJ, draft law No. 8221 authored by the MP from "European Solidarity," Mykola Kniazhytsky, proposes to prohibit the activities of religious organizations on the territory of Ukraine that are part of the structure of the ROC or subordinate to it in canonical, organizational, and other matters. Additionally, according to the document, only religious organizations that are subordinate to the OCU can use the words "Orthodox" or "Orthodox Church" in their names.
Draft law No. 10126, initiated by the head of the SBU, envisages the liquidation of religious organizations through the court in case their representatives commit crimes under articles related to "war propaganda," "incitement to interreligious discord," "terrorism," "planning, preparation, unleashing, and waging of an aggressive war," "violations of the laws and customs of war," "genocide," and "mercenary activities." The author of the project is Mykyta Poturaev.
The UOJ also reported that MPs introduced 1,200 amendments to draft law No. 8371.

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The bishops declared the inadmissibility of persecution by the Ukrainian authorities against the clergy and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
On November 9, 2023, a meeting of the Synod took place in the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, according to the official website of the OCCzLS.
One of the decisions of the Synod was dedicated to the persecution by the Ukrainian authorities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The resolutions state that the Synod members got familiar with the "illegal actions of the current Ukrainian government against the clergy and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."
"Taking this into account, members of the Holy Synod expressed solidarity with the persecuted and suffering. They strongly remind that in a free and democratic society, violations of fundamental human and civil rights and restrictions on freedom of religion are unacceptable. Any form of intimidation, coercion, and persecution is inappropriate, unjustified, and unacceptable," the resolution said.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the Serbian Church called on world institutions to put an end to persecutions against the UOC.

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On 17 November, the UN Security Council held a meeting dedicated to the religious freedom in Ukraine. Ilze Brands Kehris, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), stressed the "inadequacy" of the response of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to the protection of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church members. This is stated in the final press release of the meeting.

"OHCHR monitors the situation with religious freedom throughout Ukraine, both in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and in the territory occupied by the Russian Federation." Tensions between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, including over land and building ownership increased following the Russian Federation’s full-scale armed attack in February 2022.

"In a number of cases, this tension was noted in violent incidents," she said.

"These tensions have affected freedom of religion in the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine," she said, noting that since February 2022, OHCHR has documented 10 cases of physical violence and 6 cases of threatened violence resulting from disputes between parishioners of different Orthodox comminities.

"Regrettably, Ukrainian law enforcement’s response in these cases has been inadequate, failing to sufficiently investigate incidents and take action to protect members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," said Ilze Brands Kehris.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2023/11/asg-brands-kehris-briefs-security-council-ukraine

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The head of "Public Advocacy" informed the UN about the beating of clerics and believers in Cherkasy and other repressions against the UOC.
At the 16th session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues, representatives of "Public Advocacy", a human rights organisation with consultative status under UN ECOSOC, discussed the problem of the of the UOC believers and clerics rights violations with UN officials whose mandate is to address violations of the rights of ethnic, national and religious communities, the Protiktor website reported.
It is reported that the forum was attended by the President of the UN Human Rights Council H.E. Václav Bálek, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues Mr. Nicolas Levrat, representatives of international organisations and the human rights community.
The human rights defenders discussed the prospects of filing individual complaints about violations of the rights of UOC believers with special international procedures.
The head of NGO "Public Advocacy" Oleg Denisov, commenting on the work during the forum, said: "We are trying to attract maximum attention of the international community to such problems as the law on the ban of the UOC, the law on renaming, the adoption by local authorities of mass decisions on seizure of land plots from UOC organisations, criminal proceedings opened against UOC believers".
According to him, a special emphasis on the discussion of violations of the rights of the UOC believers was made on the case of violence on 20 November 2023 during the seizure of the buildings of the Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery in Cherkassy.
"The believers were again beaten, as it is assumed - by representatives of law enforcement agencies. Now work is being done to fix evidence of offences and as soon as this evidence is sufficient for international work - we will ensure both the submission of legal documents to international procedures for the protection of human rights and the appropriate media publicity of this case," Denisov said.

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An American lawyer said that Bartholomew, Poroshenko and Pompeo negotiated among themselves to change the church life of Ukraine.
American lawyer Robert Amsterdam said in an interview with Alexander Shelesta's YouTube channel that the processes to destroy the UOC were initiated by the US authorities back under the Trump presidency.
"We learned last week from Robert Destro, Assistant Secretary of State under Trump, that it was a US policy to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to reduce its influence and role in Ukraine," Amsterdam said.
According to him, this explains the huge amount of black PR that has been spread about the Church.
Amsterdam says this was possible because of the position of Patriarch Bartholomew, who "has allowed himself to be an instrument of US policy." Asked how the head of the Phanar is viewed by Americans, the lawyer said, "Nobody in the US knows Patriarch Bartholomew, except for people in the State Department."
He claims that Pat. Bartholomew, then President Poroshenko and Secretary of State Pompeo negotiated the dramatic changes in the life of the Church in Ukraine.
"And they were criticized for it," Amsterdam said, stressing that the state should stay out of the Church, and such behavior is illegal for representatives of America and contrary to the Ukrainian Constitution.
As earlier reported, Amsterdam intends to meet in Kyiv with members of the UOC Synod and the government.

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International legal protection will be organized for those who have been arrested for their views in connection with journalistic activities.
The head of the international human rights organization NGO Public Advocacy, Oleg Denisov, stated that on April 2, during the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council, facts of persecution of the UOJ and "Pershy Kozatsky" journalists were voiced.
The lawyer stressed that international legal protection will be organized for those who have been arrested for their views in connection with journalistic activities.
"The people named by the UOC speakers today will be included by us in the list of prisoners of conscience – people who are persecuted on religious grounds," said the head of the human rights organization.
Denisov spoke about a number of difficulties that need to be overcome to prove at the international level that Orthodox journalists were detained precisely for their professional activities. In particular, the prosecution does not disclose all the details of their charges before the trial.
"However, considering that UOJ and 'Pershy Kozatsky' have long covered violations of the rights of UOC believers, we will find grounds to monitor these cases and constantly raise the question of why these people were arrested. We will also monitor the conditions of their detention, and in case of evidence of violations, file complaints with international bodies."
As the UOJ reported, the arrest of Orthodox journalists was reported at UN.

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◾️On June 16, in Svityaz, there was an attempt to start the process of raider seizure of the UOC Peter and Paul Monastery.

In the local house of culture, a "meeting of the religious community regarding the transition to the OCU" was announced.

At this meeting, as usual, a territorial community was convened, which has nothing to do with the parishioners and brethren of the monastery.
However, the criminals who organized these meetings miscalculated cruelly.

The abbot of the monastery with the brethren also came to visit this event. Archimandrite Arseniy urged residents not to succumb to provocations on religious grounds and, instead of division, to unite around the defense of Ukraine.
102 participants voted for the "transition to the OCU", and 249 voted against. That is, even the territorial community opposed the raider seizure of the shrine.

The OCU cleric after seeing the result immediately left the without waiting for the final. He did not offer his activists any option for further organization.

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Andriy Baumeister stated that the actions of the authorities are not aimed at consolidating society.
In an interview with the opposition Russian publication 'Meduza', Ukrainian philosopher Andriy Baumeister noted that Ukraine, which respects personality and human dignity in its struggle against totalitarian Russia, would be stronger than a Ukraine that violates fundamental freedoms and human dignity.
"Who said that in war one needs to steal? Who said that in war one needs to fight against the church?" Baumeister asked rhetorically, pointing out that the number of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Ukraine has increased during the warfare.
Criticizing the actions of the authorities, the philosopher said that because of this, "Ukrainian society is not being formed as a united one – there is a great internal division, persecution of dissidents, attacks on business and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. All this is not aimed at consolidating society in a situation of danger."

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Former SBU officer proposed exchanging convicted UOC priests for Ukrainian fighters with Russia.
Former SBU officer and ex-MP Ivan Stupak suggested in an interview with Channel 24 on August 28, 2024, that imprisoned Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) priests could be used as valuable bargaining chips for exchanges with Russia. Stupak proposed that 25 such convicted priests might serve as significant leverage for negotiating the release of Ukrainian fighters, including those from the Azov Battalion.
According to Stupak, previous exchange experiences have demonstrated that Russia places high value on retrieving its priests. For instance, he noted that in Luhansk Oblast, one UOC priest was exchanged for 47 Ukrainian captives.
“If the Russians see a need for these priests, we might start negotiations not on a 1-to-1 basis, but rather 1-to-3 or 1-to-5. This is war; we’re trying to sell the 'goods' that we don’t need but are valuable to the Russians at a higher price,” Stupak emphasized.
He also mentioned that among the prisoners in Ukraine, there is a "Russian cleric" who, according to "church canons, is equivalent to at least an FSB colonel."

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🇬🇧ROBERT AMERSTANDAM TALKED TO A JOURNALIST WHO INVESTIGATED TERROR AGAINST THE UOC

🇺🇦РОБЕРТ АМСТЕРДАМ ПОСПІЛКУВАВСЯ З ЖУРНАЛІСТОМ, ЯКИЙ РОЗСЛІДУВАВ ТЕРОР ПРОТИ УПЦ

The human rights resource "Save the UOC" published a conversation between the international lawyer of the UOC Robert Amsterdam and the independent American journalist Flavius ​​Mihaies.

The authoritative American media "The American Conservative" published an article by the journalist "Ukraine’s Two Wars".

In it, Flavius ​​Mikhaies described his investigation into the terror and persecution to which believers and clergy of the UOC are subjected.

The journalist talked to Orthodox communities whose churches were taken away, and believers who are persecuted by extremists and government officials.

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