The Department for External Church Relations commented on the intention of the Russian Federation to raise the issue of the situation around the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate at the UN on January 17.
This is reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC MP.
“In this regard, please be advised that so far, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has not appealed to any state with a request for assistance in protecting its rights, and even more so to the state that committed a treacherous armed attack on our country. Also, we did not authorize anyone from the ROC MP to speak on our behalf at the UN. We are concerned that the issue of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is raised by entities that have nothing to do with us. We call on the Russian authorities not to speak on behalf of our Church on international platforms and not to use the religious factor for their own political purposes," the statement reads.
Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, requested a separate meeting of the UN Security Council to be held on January 17, 2023, regarding the situation around the UOC-MP.
Nebenzia says that recently, "the persecution of dissidents and opposition leaders has been supplemented by the desire to destroy the only canonical Church in Ukraine – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."
In addition, Russia is threatened with an escalation of the war in case of further pressure on collaborators in cassocks. According to Nebenzia, pressure on the UOC-MP will have serious consequences for regional peace and security. He stressed that what is happening in Ukraine deserves close attention from the members of the UN Security Council.