Novynskyi to Carlson: There are daily seizures of UOC temples across Ukraine

Interview of Fr. Vadym Novinsky with Tucker Carlson. Photo: Carlson's YouTube channel

Protodeacon of the UOC and former MP Vadym Novynskyi said in an interview with American journalist and public figure Tucker Carlson about the systemic persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the authorities and daily seizures of Orthodox temples across the country.

“Every day, armed people seize churches, break in, expel priests, beat believers, the elderly, women, and priests,” said Fr. Vadym. According to him, “countless attempts to seize churches” occur daily throughout Ukraine.

The former deputy paid special attention to the fate of church hierarchs: “Our archbishops are being persecuted. Fabricated criminal cases are being initiated against them.”

Fr. Vadym listed specific names: Metropolitan Arseniy, the abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, is in prison “on completely false charges”. Metropolitans Theodosiy, Luke, and Anthony are under house arrest.

He separately mentioned Metropolitan Longin, whose monastery is a shelter for more than 600 disabled children: “He is a man of love, and he is still being persecuted – just for being faithful to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

“We pray for the authorities, we pray for Zelensky that at some point they will come to their senses and stop. We sincerely hope that Zelensky will fulfill his promise and restore religious peace. Because 95-97 percent of believers voted for Zelensky as the president of peace and for the cessation of religious hatred in our country,” said the protodeacon.

He appealed to the global Christian community for support: “The communists could not defeat us in the twentieth century because Christ – this is the church, the head of the church is Christ. And we will go through these trials and be purified. And we are very grateful to you and to everyone who does anything for our Church.”

Earlier, the UOJ analyzed in detail the interview of Tucker Carlson with UOC lawyer Robert Amsterdam.

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