Bishop Iosif of Zaporizhia and Melitopol of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate on behalf of the clergy and laity of his eparchy protested the initiative of erecting a monument to Stalin in the city of Zaporizhia.
Bishop Iosif noted that the “figure of the ‘father of the peoples’ is differently viewed in the modern society. One should not forget the people who were repressed, tortured to death in NKVD prisons, most of whom were Orthodox, including Orthodox priests.”
In addition, according to the press service of the Zaporizhia Eparchy, a report in this regard was sent by the bishop to Metropolitan Volodymyr, which reads: “As ruling bishop of the Zaporizhia Eparchy, I consider it my duty to express on behalf of the children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a protest against this unacceptable event as this action offends the religious sentiments of thousands of believing residents of Zaporizhia. I sincerely hope that the opinion of the church will be taken into account by the initiators of the monument and that it will serve to peacefully settle the problem.”
Despite the protests of the church, the monument to Stalin was erected in Zaporizhia.