MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. The Ukrainian political leadership’s crusade to create a new ecclesiastical institution have resulted in clerics and believers rallying around the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Synodal Department for Public Relations Vladimir Legoida has told TASS.

"The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has more rights than the so-called autocephalous church, which was established just recently. It cannot take a single step without the Patriarchate of Constantinople. What the Ukrainian authorities have unwittingly achieved was the cohesion of the canonical church’s congregation and clergy in Ukraine in the face of fierce pressure from the state and Phanar officials. God cannot be mocked," he emphasized.

According to Legoida, it is necessary to respond within the legal framework to the aggressive activities by the schismatics to seize churches, by reaching out to international human rights groups.

"We need to present evidence about the disregard for law to the whole world, and not sweep the plight of believers under the rug, nor pretend that nothing is happening. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has sent letters to the most reputable religious leaders, heads of state and international organizations. Everyone should know about the violations of religious rights. It will take some time to consider our appeals, and we are waiting for answers," he stressed.

Legoida noted that the lack of public response from local Orthodox churches to actions by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople spoke volumes about their attitude towards the developments in Ukraine.

"On the one hand, so far there have been no publicly expressed assessments of Phanar’s actions. On the other hand, this silence is quite telling. The newly-established organization has not received any form of support from a single local church, including congratulations on its creation and greetings to its ‘primate’ on his election. Those who spoke out publicly, that is, the Church of Antioch, the Serbian and Polish Churches, gave negative assessments. They said it was impossible to recognize what had been done and how it had been done, and this response shows that Constantinople finds itself fighting an isolated battle," Legoida added.

Church crisis in Ukraine

Ukraine’s current leadership has sought to create a local Orthodox church independent of the Moscow Patriarchate in the country since it came to power after the 2014 coup. Last April, President Pyotr Poroshenko sent a letter to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople requesting autocephaly for the Ukrainian church. The Poroshenko regime cobbled together a "unification council" that was held in Kiev on December 15. During the meeting, representatives of two schismatic orgaizations (the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church) announced the creation of a new church, the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The Tomos of Autocephaly (a clerical decree on establishing an independent church) was handed over to its head, Metropolitan Epiphany, on January 6.