UOC KP: Moscow Patriarchate procession sponsored by the same politicians who sponsored anti-Maidan
The procession of the Moscow Patriarchate to Kyiv was sponsored by the same politicians that were behind Antimaydan. According to Zik, Archbishop Yevstratii (Zorya) of Chernihiv and Nizhyn, Secretary of the Synod of the UOC-KP, head of Information Department of the Kyiv Patriarchate wrote about it in his blog on Glavkom website.
According to Archbishop Yevstratii, from 2009 the Kyiv Patriarchate traditionally recurrently holds on July 28 the procession in downtown Kyiv in honor of the double celebration: the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine and remembrance of St Volodymyr. In the past 2015, the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine had the idea to act the same way: on July 27, the adherents of Russian Orthodoxy rallied for their own cross procession. This year a one-day procession seemed not enough – they decided to organize the same across Ukraine over the four-week period. The campaign ends on July 27 in Kyiv.
“This procession is even sponsored (both organizational and the media sponsors) – by the same politicians who were behind the anti-Maidan. Together they want to prove that the Moscow Patriarchate is Ukraine, that this is the territory of the “Russian World,” Archbishop Yevstratii said.
In his view, the best response of Ukrainian community shall be to gather for the procession on July 28 – from the monument to St Volodymyr to St Volodymyr Cathedral.
“The maximum numerous and peopled assembly! On November 30, 2013, the Ukrainian Church defended the right of its people to Maidan. On July 28, 2016, people will have the opportunity to defend the independence of the Ukrainian Church in a peaceful and hence victorious way,” Archbishop Yevstratii wrote.
He also stressed that the planned activities of the UOC (MP) and UOC (KP) do not overlap either in time or in space: the sacred procession of the MP is scheduled to July 27 from St Volodymyr’s Hill to the Lavra, the procession of the UOC (KP) – to July 28 from St. Volodymyr Cathedral to St Volodymyr’s Hill.
