Photo credit: kremlin.ru / fragment (CC BY 4.0)
The international community, human rights structures, political leaders should pay attention to the actions of the Kyiv regime, which continues to persecute priests and parishioners of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Patriarch Kirill believes, the website of the Russian Orthodox Church reports.
In his message to the primates of local Orthodox churches, a number of religious figures and representatives of international organizations, he reminded that Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchinsky and Bratslav had been sentenced to five years in prison.
Metropolitan Jonathan was convicted "for publicly justifying armed aggression against Ukraine." The clergyman was convicted under four articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, accusing him of "actions aimed at forcibly changing or overthrowing the constitutional order," as well as "encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine."
Patriarch Kirill called the court's decisions "lawless". Before that, Metropolitan Jonathan was subjected to aggressive pressure, but he remained faithful to his church. It is for this that he was convicted, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is sure.
He called the trial another flagrant violation of religious freedom, an example of persecution of faith, which is dictated by hatred for the UOC.
Russkiy Mir
