Ukrainian diplomats thwarted an attempt to discredit the state and the Ukrainian Church during a visit to Montenegro of the head of the UOC-MP, Onufriy Berezovsky.
Ukrainian diplomats thwarted an attempt to discredit the state and the Ukrainian Church during a visit to Montenegro of the head of the UOC-MP, Onufriy Berezovsky.
The OCU spokesman, Archbishop Yevstratii (Zorya) wrote about it on Facebook.
"They wanted to use the name of the Ukrainian Church in the ongoing confrontation in Montenegro. And the harsh reaction to the Embassy's explanation of the fact that this country is not visited by the Primate of the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but by the Metropolitan of the Russian Church, has an explanation for me,” the hierarch noted.
The Archbishop of OCU noted that there are three hundred bishops in the Moscow Patriarchate, most of whom serve in Russia.
But the name of Russia in Montenegro after its attempt to assassinate M. Djukanovic and the coup evokes a clear political connotation, especially in the current circumstances.
That's why the organizers wanted to show that it was the "head of the Ukrainian Church" who arrived in the country, not the hierarch of the Russian Church in Kyiv. The explanation of the Press Service of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the UOC (OCU), and then of the Embassy of Ukraine in Montenegro broke this scheme of abusing the name of our state and our Church.
Which triggered an angry response,” the OCU spokesman explained.
“I want to support Ukrainian diplomats who, in difficult circumstances, adequately defend our country and its interests on the not-so-visible but the real international-diplomatic front of the Kremlin's hybrid war against Ukraine.
And one more point - it is interesting that the arrival of Patriarch of Serbia Irinej to Montenegro was announced on the same days.
However, as it turned out, the visit of the Primate of the Serbian Patriarchate to the United States had long been scheduled for this very time. That's where he went immediately after meeting in Amman. Thus, even in the internal context of the Serbian Church itself, the entire history of the visit becomes a strange dimension, where the question of "who did it and why" becomes only more and more, "added Archbishop Yevstratiy (Zorya).
According to RISU, from February 27 to 29, Metropolitan Onufriy was on an an official visit to Montenegro. In the country, a confrontation has been ongoing for two months between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the government that supports the new law on freedom of religion. The Montenegrin opposition, with the support of Belgrade and Moscow, argues that the law is directed against the Serbian Church. The opposition believes that the purpose of the law is to confiscate the property of the SOC in the territory of Montenegro.
During his visit to Podgorica, Metropolitan Onufriy participated in anti-government rallies alongside with supporters of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The Embassy of Ukraine in Montenegro responded to the international activity of the Primate of the UOC-MP, noting that Metropolitan Onufriy represents the Russian Church, of which he is the hierarch.
The Embassy also noted that commenting on Montenegro's internal affairs, the Primate of the OCU "harms the friendly relations of the Ukrainian and Montenegrin people."
The UOC MP called the statement by Ukrainian diplomats provocative and demanded that the Ministry of Internal Affairs punish its authors.