YouSaid · the spoken record

Metropolitan Anthony

lines on the record
12
first
2023-01-17
most recent
2023-01-17
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “There have been many cases of arson and vandalism of churches, beatings and even murder attempts of members of the clergy, sometimes even in churches during church services. In conclusion, I would like to call upon members of the Council to pay attention to the unlawful actions of the Ukrainian State authorities against the largest faith in the country and the many violations of the rights of the faithful that are guaranteed by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and many other international instruments guaranteeing the inalienable right of any person to the free exercise of religion.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  2. “In violating the principle of separation of church and State under article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the leadership of Ukraine and the local authorities are essentially prohibiting the practice of religious rights based on the Church’s own theological and canonical criteria and are officially requiring parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to join other religious organizations. An unbridled, slanderous campaign is being waged in the Ukrainian media against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, calling for a complete ban on its activities and the use of pressure and violence against its representatives, which bears clear signs of hate speech. This sort of media background is leading to an increase in violence against parishioners.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  3. “As that law was not in compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine, upon the request of a group of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, application of the law was suspended pending its consideration by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. However, last month, the law went into effect. Currently, in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, seven additional bills have been proposed to restrict the rights of or entirely eliminate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Legislators are not hiding the fact that the purpose of their bills is to infringe upon the rights of parishes and members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, forcibly confiscate its property, deprive it of its historical and legal name, forbid it from calling itself Orthodox and, lastly, prohibit its activities and completely eliminate its presence in Ukraine.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  4. “In 2019, new religious legal norms were adopted to facilitate the raids and seizures of churches and their property through sham referendums among the residents of the territories concerned, which ignored the opinions of members of the churches’ parishes and involved the intervention of external actors, who were sometimes armed. Further measures included the falsification of documents, gross legal violations, large-scale clashes and the beating of Church members and clergy. In 2022 alone, 129 churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were seized. The legal registration of new parishes is being fully blocked. In 2019, another law was adopted to change the name of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with the obvious purpose of severing its link with its property.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  5. “The political repression of the bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the culmination of the repressive religious policy of the Ukrainian authorities over recent years, the ultimate goal of which — in contravention of article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine on the separation between church and State — is total control of the religious life of society by Government agencies. In 2018, with the active anti-constitutional interference of the State apparatus and security services of Ukraine and with gross violations of Orthodox canonical law, the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine was created. Further efforts by the authorities are intended to force the parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to join this new religious organization, created by the Ukrainian State under its patronage.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  6. “Since October 2022, under the pretext of so-called counter-intelligence activities, the security service of Ukraine has carried out large-scale searches of the monasteries and parishes of Ukrainian Orthodox churches throughout the country. In the course of those operations, there has been a complete disregard for the honour and dignity of the clergy, while the media have spread slanderous rumours. Under far-fetched pretexts, criminal cases are being brought against the episcopate and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In a situation recalling the years of atheistic persecution in the Soviet Union, they are being groundlessly accused of anti-State activities. Alleged evidence of the latter sometimes comprises of old newspapers, journals or theological and historical books from the accused parties’ own personal libraries.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  7. “The sanctions and revocation of citizenship are being imposed on the clerics of one confession only, while article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine expressly prohibits privileges or restrictions on the rights citizens of Ukraine based on their religious beliefs. Therefore, depriving Ukrainian religious leaders of their citizenship is undeniably a form of mass political repression, which contravenes the Constitution of Ukraine and international agreements that the country has signed. The violations of those rights and restrictions of those freedoms, even during a state of emergency or in the case of martial law, are expressly prohibited by article 64 of the Constitution of Ukraine.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  8. “A citizen of Ukraine shall not be expelled from Ukraine or extradited”. Article 9 of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which was drafted under the auspices of the United Nations and to which Ukraine acceded in 2013, states “[a] Contracting State may not deprive any person or group of persons of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds.” The lists of members of the Ukrainian episcopate and clergy have been adopted by the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, without legal, judicial or investigative proceedings or the possibility of challenging the decision.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  9. “The decision was adopted the very same day by President of Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and his subsequent decrees have established the list of bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who will be subject to sanctions, which means, among other things, they will be deprived, essentially, of the right to manage property on Ukrainian territory. Furthermore, as the Ukrainian media have reported, as a result of a subsequent decree by President Zelenskyy, a number of senior members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been deprived of Ukrainian citizenship, which most likely will be used to justify their forced expulsion from the country. However, article 25 of the Constitution of Ukraine states that “a citizen of Ukraine shall not be deprived of citizenship and of the right to change citizenship.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  10. “The same State body has taken a number of measures, including instructing the Government to draft a law banning the activities in Ukraine of religious organizations affiliated with centres of influence in Russia. It is essentially a ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, although its governing centre is located in Kyiv, not Moscow, and it is administratively independent of the Russian Orthodox Church. The measures also called for intensifying the counter-intelligence activities of Ukrainian security services vis-à-vis the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; depriving the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the right to use the chapels of the most important historical monastery in Ukraine, the Kyiv- Pechersk Lavra; and introducing so-called sanctions against the Church’s clergy.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  11. “For many centuries, Orthodox Christianity has constituted a common spiritual and cultural foundation in the lives of the people of Russia and Ukraine and could help restore mutual understanding in the future. But the very basis of such dialogue is being undermined in Ukraine, even as we speak, given the initiative taken by the leadership of Ukraine in its attempts to destroy the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not a political but a religious organization, uniting more than 12,000 parishes and millions of Ukrainian citizens. On 1 December 2022, the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine adopted a decision, the true purpose of which is to restrict the rights of parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source

  12. “I thank members of the Security Council for giving me the opportunity to speak at this important meeting. The Russian Orthodox Church, both independently and in cooperation with other Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant denominations and representatives of world traditional religions, makes every effort to defend the rights of the faithful throughout the world, especially those of Christians. We are currently extremely concerned about flagrant violations of the human and constitutional rights of those of the Orthodox faith in Ukraine. One cannot overstate the peacemaking potential of religion and the Church in inter-State and internal conflicts.”

    2023-01-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9245 (2023) · source