When speaking during a round table organized by the religion for peace community in the Japanese capital, Archbishop Yevstratiy Zorya of Chernihiv and Nizhyn touched upon the Russian-Ukrainian war.
This is reported by Voice Of Ukraine.
Recalling the words of the Holy Scriptures about peace, Archbishop Yevstratiy said: "The city of Chernihiv, the center of my diocese, was surrounded by Russian troops for 38 days. Over 700 civilians were killed by Russian bombs, rockets and mines. Russian troops deliberately destroyed our infrastructure to force us to surrender due to the famine in March. In Bucha, the invaders shot a priest, Fr Job, with whom I once served together, in the back. In the village of Yasnohorodka, westwards from Kyiv, another priest, Fr Rostislav, was killed by the Russian military - I knew him personally and we studied at the same seminary. I personally knew Fr Platon, a military chaplain who was killed by Russian troops during the Storming of the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region. Also, I was acquainted with F Serhiy from Kherson, who was abducted by Russian special services, tortured and threatened with the possible murder of his wife and children.
Now, while I address you, the bodies of dead Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war continue to be dug up in the forest near the town of Izyum, a town recently liberated from Russian occupation. And we are going to learn more about the genocide on Ukrainian soil that the Russian Federation has committed and continues to commit."
The OCU representative noted that Moscow Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev blesses the Russian army: "While calling the name of God and representing the Christian Church, he justifies an aggressive war. But the justification of the attack on Ukraine is a sin which is peculiar not only to the head of the Russian Church. Outside Ukraine, not a single current bishop of the Moscow Patriarchate has condemned this aggressive war. None of them."
In addition to his speech at the conference of religious figures, Archbishop Yevstratiy Zorya of Chernihiv and Nizhyn of the OCU prayed with Japanese parishioners of the Ukrainian Church of St. Orban.