Metropolitan Epifaniy spoke in the USA about the persecution of the OCU in Crimea and Donbas

Metropolitan Epifaniy, Primate of the OCU, spoke at the US Institute of Peace, where he spoke about the tasks and challenges facing the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. This is reported by the press service of the OCU.

“The meeting of Metropolitan Epifaniy with the experts of the Institute of Peace and the invited participants was held in the format of a round table. His Beatitude spoke about various aspects of the formation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as an autocephalous church, about relations with other churches and religious organizations in Ukraine and abroad. Separately, it referred to the persecution suffered by the communities and priests of the OCU in the Russian-occupied territories – in the Crimea and Donbas, the report said.

It is noted that during his speech Epifaniy called the All Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which unites 17 members, including Orthodox, Greek and Roman Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical Churches, as well as Jewish and Muslim religious associations, an example of fruitful cooperation and interaction of various faiths. The Council represents more than 90 % of the entire religious network of Ukraine.

After his speech, Metropolitan Epifaniy was answering the questions of experts for more than an hour in order to fully describe the challenges and tasks facing Ukraine and the local autocephalous UOC.

According to the press-service of OCU, the official delegation of the Ukrainian Church expressed gratitude to the U.S. Institute of Peace for to support and work towards a just peace in the East of Ukraine and returning of annexed Crimea and hope for further fruitful cooperation in the protection of freedom of religion.