Patriarch Kirill thanks Gauleiter Balytsky for “peaceful life in the Zaporizhzhia region”

This was reported by the Telegram channel Christians Against War.

“I am grateful to you for your contribution to the development of church-state relations in the region entrusted to your care. I hope that such interaction will continue to promote the establishment of traditional spiritual and moral values in society, patriotic education of the youth, and the creation of a prosperous life for fellow citizens.”

Balytsky's development of church-state relations includes, among other things, a ban on the activities of the Greek Catholic Church and Catholic organizations, as well as a number of Protestant churches. Representatives of the UOC (which was partly used to create the Berdiansk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church) and alternative Orthodox jurisdictions are also being persecuted in the occupied territories of the region.