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Kiev tries to use UOC to fuel animosity between Russia, Ukraine — Patriarch Kirill

The Patriarch added that numerous human rights organizations abroad prefer to turn a blind eye to the events unfolding in Ukraine thus revealing their political bias

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. The Kiev regime and its Western handlers are now attempting to use the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) as an instrument to incite Russian-Ukrainian hatred, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said at Christmas parliamentary meetings at the State Duma on Thursday.

"Attempts by the current Kiev regime and its sponsors abroad to use the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a tool to fuel Russian-Ukrainian animosity cause deep sorrow and righteous indignation. <...> I am absolutely confident that reconciliation in the future is impossible without the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which is independent from the political situation - this is precisely why it triggers such hatred of the contemporary architects of global conflicts who are not interested in our peoples living in prosperity and peace," the Patriarch said.

He stated with regret that an active role in the unfolding destructive processes is played by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which in 2018 provoked yet another ecclesiastical division in Ukraine. Then, the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was created out of non-canonical organizations.

According to the Patriarch, the unprecedented persecution of priests and believers in Ukraine and attempts to completely ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the country are "part of a global external agenda."

"Widespread raids in dioceses, monasteries and parishes are being conducted, criminal cases against the clergy and worshippers are being opened for made-up reasons, and they are also being discredited in the media, our peoples’ holiest Orthodox sanctuaries are being taken away and desecrated. Every day, the calls to completely ban the activity of the canonical Orthodox Church are growing louder. All of this can be seen as part of a global external agenda to destroy the canonical Orthodoxy within a single country - Ukraine," he pointed out.

The Patriarch added that numerous human rights organizations abroad prefer to turn a blind eye to the events unfolding in Ukraine thus revealing their political bias.

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