YouSaid · the spoken record

Kipshidze

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14
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2023-11-17
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2023-11-17
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “Once again, I urge the members of the Security Council to abandon political differences and, for the sake of respect for the principle of religious freedom, to adopt effective, immediate measures to protect the rights of worshippers in Ukraine. I take the liberty of recalling that the value of religious choice has been recognized by European civilization since the time of the Peace of Westphalia. Today, in the twenty- first century, are we really unable to protect a church from persecution because we are guided solely by political ambitions?”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  2. “They think that, if Russia and Ukraine are in a state of conflict, a carte blanche has been given for the shameless destruction of everything related to the collective spiritual history of the Russian-Ukrainian people, and the first to be destroyed are Ukrainian worshippers. However, in our view, that is a completely nefarious logic. Throughout history, the world has endured a number of wars, but if the hostile States in every war destroyed their cultural and historic ties established over the course of centuries, they would plunge into the abyss of barbarism. Faith must be a peaceful space, and priests have been part of armies throughout the centuries of European history — not to foment hatred, but to ensure that there be some place for mercy for the prisoners, civilians and defenceless people in all the suffering caused by war.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  3. “On 5 January, the Primate of the Russian Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, turned to the parties to the conflict with a call for a ceasefire and for the establishment of a Christmas truce, on 7 January, so that people on both sides could commemorate the great Christian holiday. The Russian side supported that initiative, but the Ukrainian side categorically rejected the idea of a ceasefire, even though the tradition of Christmas truces has deep roots in European history. The Russian Orthodox Church has become accustomed to State and near-State Ukrainian media outlets viewing any of our testimony in defence of the rights of worshippers in Ukraine as evidence of guilt of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  4. “That is quite contrary to the views held by the first settlers who made the journey to America on the Mayflower, who were also considered to be an incorrect religious community in seventeenth century England. When we reviewed the record for the previous meeting on the issue of protection of the rights of worshippers in Ukraine (see S/PV.9386), we saw a coordinated attempt to justify the persecution of believers by an armed conflict. That attempt is immoral. The repression of worshippers cannot be justified by circumstances of armed hostilities. The history of humankind is rife with wars, but even under those conditions, freedom can and must be defended by all parties to the conflict.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  5. “In February, President of the United States Joe Biden visited Kyiv and met with the head of the schismatic community, which had been established by the authorities, and which incidentally is a beneficiary of all the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, since all the churches and monasteries that were illegally seized by the State have already been transferred, or will be transferred, to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine — the community that the President of the United States graced with his high presence. That sends a message that the current Administration of the President of the United States supports the so-called correct religious community, and the incorrect religious community can be dealt with as the State wishes.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  6. “Criminal cases against Ukrainian hierarchs are publicly endorsed by the Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who is taking revenge on them for their unwillingness to join the new religious structure that was established by the Ukrainian authorities, the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is schismatic in terms of canonical law. We have become accustomed to hearing about the religious neutrality of States in the Western world. However, at the international level, we see the opposite.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  7. “Let me recall that, in 2022 and 2023, 70 criminal proceedings were initiated against members of the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Onufriy, 16 of which targeted Metropolitans. All of those cases are politically motivated. Twenty-six bishops and clerics were indicted and 19 received judicial sentences. One day a book will be published about the victims of the anti-church terror carried out against clerics in the Ukrainian church, but this list begins today.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  8. “The exception is Yan Taksyur, a Ukrainian Orthodox journalist who spoke here in the summer, only because he managed to leave the territory of Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange and therefore felt relatively safe. The first step towards restoring peace in Ukraine, in our opinion, is to end the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. I call on the members of the Security Council to set aside political differences to protect ordinary worshippers from unprecedented repression. The clergy and the laity, monks and bishops should not become bargaining chips in world politics. If the members of the Security Council fail to adopt consistent measures to restore the rights of believers in Ukraine, then people’s faith will continue to be abused.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  9. “Unfortunately, we have heard only silence in response. It would seem that the international community is indifferent to the shameless destruction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which unites tens of millions of believers. Moreover, the testimonies of Russian religious figures in defence of members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are considered by the Ukrainian intelligence services as just another reason for their persecution. But we do not hear and, sadly, will not hear the voices of believers in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at the Security Council. They are intimidated and afraid to openly defend their rights because, in this case, they face reprisals on the territory of Ukraine.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  10. “Christian researchers in Europe have also recognized violations of religious freedom, including a professor at the University of Münster, Thomas Bremer, who published a report on 15 September in which he rejected the results of the so-called religious expert examination prepared in Ukraine to justify the liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Indeed, the Ukrainian authorities want to deprive the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of its legal rights and to liquidate it. The Primate of the Russian Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, has repeatedly sent messages to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Secretaries General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe, offering evidence of widespread violations of the rights of worshippers in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  11. “Just look at the recent expulsion of monks from the Kyiv- Pechersk Lavra, a monastery that serves as a symbol of international orthodox faith. Violations of the rights of believers in Ukraine have been confirmed by both United Nations agencies and independent experts. That has been stated in particular in the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights dated 4 October 2023. It was also attested to by the Ukrainian journalist Yan Taksyur in his statement at a Security Council meeting on 26 July (see S/PV.9385). In September, an American lawyer, Bob Amsterdam, convincingly spoke about the persecution of Ukrainian believers in a conversation with a popular television presenter, Tucker Carlson.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  12. “That reality is unrelated to momentary politics, including the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict — rather, it has been shaped over centuries without any connection to the relations developed among States. However, the current Ukrainian Government, encroaching on the principle of religious freedom, decided in 2018 to create a new Orthodox church that would be built on the renunciation of those over 1,000 years of history. The current canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been presented as an enemy of the State for the refusal to abandon its own identity. Those worshippers who do not want to convert to the new church should, according to the Ukrainian authorities, be deprived of their churches and monasteries.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  13. “We would never have thought that such history would repeat itself in present-day Ukraine, but an analysis of the situation leads us to the conclusion that the authorities of that country have set as their objective the total annihilation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — the religious community to which the majority of Ukrainians belong. Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians were baptized more than 1,000 years ago, in 988, as a single people. That is a historical fact recognized by public figures and scientists around the world. It is therefore natural that we belong to a single Church, honour the same saints and preserve the same spiritual heritage.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source

  14. “I thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to speak in the Chamber. The United Nations was established as an institution with a duty to promote cooperation in the area of human rights, primary among which is religious freedom. Over the centuries of its history, humankind has begun to understand that it is impossible to forcibly compel an individual to believe something different to what they themselves wish to believe. The Russian Orthodox Church underwent decades of godless persecution. A century ago, after the October Revolution, believers became enemies of the State. They were persecuted for their faith; churches were seized and blown up; and the memory of religious history was destroyed.”

    2023-11-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9481 (2023) · source