On 25 September 2023, a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church took place at the residence of the Primate of the UOC at the Convent of Saint Panteleimon at Feofaniia. The Information and Education Department of the UOC is publishing the results of the meeting.
In relation to the fact that the gross and systematic violation of the rights of clergymen, believers, and institutions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had already been going on for a long time, the Holy Synod published a Message to the bishops, clergy, monastics, and all faithful children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in which it encouraged to pray fervently for the Holy Church and the entire Ukrainian people and stressed that it was necessary to avoid violence and lawlessness when defending one’s rights. In addition, it was decided that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church would be using all possible legal means both at the national and international levels for its defence.
Then the Synod adopted the decision to subordinate the Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra to His Beatitude the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine as a stauropegial monastery. His Eminence Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk, who has been appointed a vicar bishop of the Kyiv Metropolis, will continue to be the Abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra.
The members of the Synod discussed the activities of vicar bishops of the Horlivka Diocese. According to the Synod’s decision, His Eminence Archbishop Spyrydon of Dobropillia and His Eminence Archbishop Paisiy of Kostiantynivka have been appointed vicars of the Kyiv Metropolis and will carry out the ecclesiastical guidance of the parishes of the Horlivka Diocese determined by the Synod.
In response to the reports from Their Eminences Bishops, the Synod dismissed the Abbot of the Saint Panteleimon Monastery of the Odesa Diocese and approved the Abbot for the Monastery of God’s Prophet Elijah in the city of Vinnytsia and the Abbess for the Holy Dormition Convent in the village of Domboky of the Mukachevo Diocese.
In addition, the Abbot of the Bancheny Monastery of the Ascension of the Lord, situated in the Chernivtsi and Bukovyna Diocese, was replaced.
By a decision of the Holy Synod, the celebration of the Synaxis of the Saints of Balta has been moved to the first Saturday of October.
The Synod also discussed the composition of the permanent members of the Holy Synod. His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol was removed from the permanent members of the Synod due to the impossibility of his taking part in its meetings. His Eminence Metropolitan Serhiy of Ternopil and Kremenets was appointed a permanent member of the Holy Synod.
Their Eminences Metropolitan Ioann of Kherson and Tavriia, Metropolitan Panteleimon of Uman and Zvenyhorod and Metropolitan Mykolai of Kirovohrad and Novomyrhorod were summoned to be present at next meetings of the Holy Synod.


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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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Nikita Poturaev, head of the Humanitarian and Information Policy Committee in Verkhovna Rada, said that the ban of the UOC will not violate the principle of religion freedom and will not be the State interference in the Church affairs. According to him, those who believe otherwise, including the deputies, are «just misinformed»

People's Deputy assured that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church supposedly «obeys» the Moscow Patriarchate, and therefore the ban of the Church - «it is not about faith at all, it is not about religion, it is not about freedom of conscience». According to him, «religious organization is a unique form of public organization». Therefore, the ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is «not about Christ».

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🇬🇧"LEGAL COMPANIES WITHBUDGETS OF MILLIONS ARE BEHIND THE «TRANSITIONS» TO OCU." - LAWYERS

🇺🇦"ЗА «ПЕРЕХОДАМИ» У ПЦУ СТОЯТЬ ЮРИДИЧНІ КОМПАНІЇ З МІЛЬЙОННИМИ БЮДЖЕТАМИ" - ЮРИСТИ

The lawyers representing the interests of the UCC communities in the courts told the priests that during the «transitions» to the OCU all the actions of the Dumenkov followers are supervised by «the same famous group of law companies» with a very large budget.

It looks like the processes of transferring religious communities to the OCU are going "on their own". However, it is known that a certain group enters the deanery and methodically, parish after parish, destroys it completely», - said the lawyers.
The parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are opposed not by activists or by local community, but by «big budget». And who will receive this budget - varies depending on the situation.

Firstly the money offerred to the UTC management. If the Chief or Mayor does not agree, then the professional activists are included in work, they tour the districts or even the regions. Initially, the money is also offered to the UOC temples abbots, so that they voluntarily transfer to the OCU.

According to the lawyers, when in one or another locality is announced about the «community meeting» on the temple transition, it means that the negotiations with the local authorities have already passed, and they were successful. By the time of the «meeting» the initiators already know that their illegal protocols will be accepted and registered, and the police will not allow the believers there.

If the «meeting» is not held with the result that curators order, the prefects may lose bonuses and allowances.

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The OCU is massively seizing the temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Kiev region, the lawyers defending the interests of the church communities in the courts say.

Lawyers claim that in Pereyaslav deanery all temples of the (UOC) Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). And they are empty now.

Despite the corrupt seizure schemes in which local authorities are also involved, communities need to fight for their shrines, because due to the hopes of the perpetrators for impunity , all raiding activities happen.

«One day all the names will be known, all-illegal registrars, and those who put signatures on protocols, who participated in the meeting, notarizinly certified documents», - the lawyers are convinced in it. That is why it is necessary to clearly record all the violations that are being committed today.

Therefore, all facts of raiding must be documented in detail, it is needed to write claims and file them in the courts. According to lawyers, from the legal point of view, it is obvious that decisions on them will be positive - if not now and not at the level of Ukrainian courts, then in the nearest future, at the level of international courts, their definitions are priorities for Motherland legislation.

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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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Hegumen Bartholomew came to Bulgaria to take part in the celebrations in honour of Saint Silouan of Athos.

On 25 September, Bulgarian Patriarch Neophytos received Hegumen Bartholomew of the New Esphigmenou Monastery of Athos, who is known for his support of the OCU, reports the Bulgarian Patriarchate's website.
Hegumen Bartholomew visited Patriarch Neophytos together with Metropolitan Emmanuel of Ptolemais of the Alexandrian Patriarchate, who is in Bulgaria at the invitation of the abbot of the Montenegrin Monastery of Sts Cosmas and Damian.
At the meeting, the guests thanked Patriarch Neophytos for the blessing to visit Bulgaria and the Sofia Eparchy and to participate in the feast of St Silouan of Athos at the Montenegrin Monastery, where they celebrated the Liturgy.
During the meeting, Metropolitan Emmanuel conveyed to Patriarch Neophytos greetings from Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria.
In turn, the Primate of the Bulgarian Church thanked the guests for their warm words and conveyed "sincere wishes" to his colleague Patriarch of Alexandria.
The website of the Bulgarian Patriarchate reports that "during the conversation, various topics related to the spiritual uplift of Orthodox Christians around the world were touched upon."
At the end of the meeting, Patriarch Neophytos gave the guests memorable gifts.
As reported, on 8 February 2019, the "bishop" of the OCU Pavel Yuristy and accompanying members of the delegation from the new church structure visited the Athonite monastery of New Esphigmenou, where they were warmly welcomed by Abbot Bartholomew.

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The community of St Panteleimon’s Church of the UOC plans to defend the right to be in the temple they have built within the law.

The Chernivtsi Сity Сouncil's Сommunal Property Department has filed a lawsuit against the UOC community demanding that the church building on the territory of the city's Central Hospital be vacated, reports “Suspilne”.
Deputy mayor Yevhen Makhovikov said that on 15 September the Economic Court of the Chernivtsi region accepted the statement of claim for consideration and opened proceedings on the case, according to the court ruling.
In April, the City Council terminated the lease agreement for the building with the community of the Saint Great Martyr Pantaleimon parish of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy of the UOC, which had been renting the building for eight years.
Following the City Council's decision, a religious organization sent a demand to the community to vacate the church premises located on the territory of the Central Hospital. The church's rector, Georgiy Aronets, said in a comment to "Suspilne" that he did not receive any requests.
According to Fr Georgiy, the community plans to legally defend its right to remain in their church.
As previously reported, the UOC community in Chernivtsi is being expelled from the church they have built.


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Journalists were denied the publication of a petition against discrimination of the UOC on the Kyiv City Council website.

The Kyiv City Council refused to publish a petition against discrimination of the UOC, explaining that "the Kyiv administration cannot address this issue at its level", reports "Dialog.TUT" journalists.
They noted that they submitted the petition to the Kyiv City Council website as early as 19 September 2023, but it was never published.
After the deadline for publication had passed, the journalists received a refusal and were advised to create a similar petition on the President's Office website.
"The Kyiv City Council did not accept our petition. It's not just funny anymore, it's genuinely amusing," the journalists wrote.
As a reminder, the Kyiv City Council stated that the UOC harbours FSB agents in its temples.
As reported, the UOC's Legal Department stated that the Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration should apologize to the believers for his insults directed at the UOC.

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