MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church says that Kiev is pushing for the obliteration of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), while the country’s law enforcement agencies are tasked with expropriating the maximum number of its parishes to the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Synodal Department for the Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media reported.

"Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament - TASS) has passed discriminatory laws, which came into force. They are aimed at stripping the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of its name and legalizing the seizure of its churches and monasteries. <…> The goal of the current regime is to eliminate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Local authorities were recommended to facilitate the transfer of the UOC’s parishes to the schismatics," the press service quotes the statement as saying.

The Holy Synod highlighted the upsurge in violence in the aftermath of the unification of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church to establish the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. "Contrary to the assurances by the Ukrainian leadership and the Patriarchate of Constantinople about the peaceful nature of the so-called ‘unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy,’ dozens of churches have been seized through forcible entry backed up by paramilitary units, with members of the clergy and believers of the canonical church trying to protect their holy sites beaten on numerous occasions. Scores of parishes affiliated with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have had to gather for prayer in single-family homes or on the street," the statement reads.

The Holy Synod called on the Ukrainian authorities "to stop persecuting their own citizens who are reluctant to join the schism" and asked all Local Orthodox Churches "through their prayers to support the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church led by Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine.".