Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill on Monday provided Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe (CoE) commissioner for Human Rights, with evidence of specific cases of believers having their rights violated in Ukraine, a Sputnik correspondent reported
STRASBOURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2019) Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill on Monday provided Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe (CoE) commissioner for Human Rights, with evidence of specific cases of believers having their rights violated in Ukraine, a Sputnik correspondent reported.The patriarch met with Mijatovic in Strasbourg earlier in the day.
"I would like to pass the materials with specific cases over to you. Your participation in [determining] the fate of some people may be required," Patriarch Kirill said.
He brought Mijatovic's attention to a Ukrainian law, passed under former President Petro Poroshenko, that required the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to change its name to show its affiliation with the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church.
"An important event has recently happened in Ukraine the president has changed. We hope that the [Ukrainian] state policy regarding the church will change. The previous government openly stepped on the path of oppressing people on the basis of religious background ... We hope that these abuses will stop under the new president," the patriarch said.
On January 6, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople handed over the tomos of autocephaly, a document that grants Orthodox churches autonomy, to the newly established Ukrainian church. Under the tomos, the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine only has jurisdiction over Ukraine and is not authorized to appoint bishops and establish its parishes abroad, effectively becoming dependent on Constantinople.
The Russian Orthodox Church along with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate refused to recognize the establishment of the new church structure in Ukraine and Constantinople's decision to grant it autocephaly. The Moscow Patriarchate described the situation as the "legalization of schism," stressing that it would have catastrophic consequences and affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries.
