Hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Call People for Peace and Common Sense

Metropolitan Ioanniky of Lugansk and Starobelsk spoke at the Pan-Ukrainian Deputies’ Meeting in Severodonetsk. During the meeting, which was translated on air to the whole Region of Donetsk, Metropolitan Ioanniky urged the deputies to maintain peace and accord, to execute Ukrainian laws and the Constitution.

Metropolitan Iriney of Dnepropetrovsk and Pavlograd participated in an extraordinary plenary session of the Regional Council, in which representatives of all political parties were present. The main issue of the session was maintenance of stability and unity, peace and legality in the region. The participants expressed their anxiety in connection with strikes and protest actions taking place in Ukraine. Metropolitan Iriney delivered an address in which he urged all leaders not to violate human and divine laws, not to violate the Constitution, not to provoke the youth into committing crime, and not to kindle a civil war.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol addressed the session of the Regional Council, and then spoke in the many-thousand meeting in Donetsk. In his address Metropolitan Hilarion shared anxiety of Donetsk people in connection with the attempts to regulate illegally the situation developed in Ukraine after presidential elections. He said that this problem should be solved only legally in frames of laws and the Constitution of Ukraine.

Archbishop Ioann of Khust and Vinogradov and Bishop Agapit of Mukachevo and Uzhgorod, hierarchs of the Transcarpathian Dioceses, called all Ukrainian people regardless of their political and religious orientation to be merciful and calm, to avoid demonstrations of hostility, extremism, and intolerance.

See also:

• Religious situation in Ukraine