War on Christianity > Heating up in Godless Ukraine

 

Ukraine takes new step towards banning

its largest Christian church

The government in Kiev has been increasingly cracking down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

© Sputnik / Konstantin Mikhelchevsky

Kiev has taken another step toward banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) by officially declaring it linked to Russia. The ruling paves the way for a full ban on the country’s largest religious institution through the courts.

Vladimir Zelensky’s government has been increasingly taking aim at the UOC in recent years, a policy that has hardened in light of the conflict with Russia. Several of its churches have been seized, and criminal cases have been opened against clerics.

This week, Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience posted a statement on its website saying that the UOC had been found to be associated with “a foreign religious organization whose activities are banned in Ukraine.” 

A law enacted last year allows religious organizations affiliated with governments Kiev deems “aggressors” to be banned. Zelensky has defended the measures as necessary to protect the country’s “spiritual independence.” 

The UOC has been de facto independent from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) since the 1990s, but maintained the canonical connection.

The UOC, which says it is being persecuted by the government, rejects the decision, a church representative told local media, adding that it has appealed it in court.

READ MORE: Kiev strips citizenship from head of largest Christian church – SBU

UOC Metropolitan Onufry, whose Ukrainian citizenship was revoked last month by Zelensky, has refused to comply with the government’s order to “correct violations,” the state agency claimed.

The ROC has maintained that banning the UOC would be a violation of religious rights. The UN and international human rights organizations have also accused Kiev of overreach and interference with the freedom of religion.

The Ukrainian government officially supports the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was founded in 2018 but which the Russian Patriarchate considers schismatic.

The proposal Russia made to Ukraine this past June to settle the conflict included a clause calling for restrictions on the UOC to be lifted.

=============================================================================================

War on Christianity > Zelensky revokes citizenship of UOC's senior Bishop

 

Kiev strips citizenship from head of largest Christian church – SBU

The government has been conducting a crackdown on the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church for years

Metropolitan Onufry during a Christmas service in Kiev, Ukraine, January 6, 2021. ©  Sputnik

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has revoked the citizenship of the seniormost bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the SBU security agency reported on Wednesday.

According to the agency, it has evidence that 80-year-old Metropolitan Onufry obtained Russian citizenship in 2002, making him ineligible to hold Ukrainian citizenship. Zelensky has reportedly ordered that the church leader should no longer be considered a Ukrainian national, although his office has yet to publish the decree.

Zelensky’s government has been cracking down on the largest religious organization in Ukraine for years, claiming the measures are necessary due to the UOC’s historic ties with Russia.

The broad campaign of criminal investigations against the clergy has been accompanied by the seizure of property by supporters of the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which is backed by Kiev. The UOC says it is being victimized by the government.

Read more

 US de facto financing persecution of Christians in Ukraine – Tucker Carlson

The SBU alleged that Onufry “deliberately opposed canonical independence of the Ukrainian church from the Moscow Patriarchy,” referring to the spiritual connection between the two churches originating from the times of Imperial Russia.

The creation of the OCU in 2019 and its recognition by the Patriarch of Constantinople caused a major rift among world’s Orthodox churches. The UOC has been de facto independent from Moscow since the 1990s, but maintained the canonical connection that lent it inter-church legitimacy.

Last year, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law that effectively threatened a ban on the UOC unless it cut the spiritual link to Russia. The UN and international human rights organizations have accused Kiev of overreach and interference with the freedom of religion by mandating a specific way of worshiping God.

READ MORE: Ukraine may legalize dual citizenship – 

but those with Russian passports should be banned from voting, draft law says

Ukraine currently does not recognize dual citizenship, but has no explicit legal prohibition either. However, an adult citizen who becomes a foreign national through means other than marrying a foreigner can be stripped of their citizenship at the president’s discretion. Zelensky previously targeted multiple former Ukrainian officials and political rivals in this manner, including Viktor Medvedchuk, formerly the leader of the largest opposition party in Ukraine.

War on Christianity > Orthodox Churches and Damascus Patriarch - targets for ISIS

 

Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem says Islamic State is targeting Patriarch John of Antioch

Jul 1, 2025 8:00 am By Robert Spencer1 Comment

The world has little interest in the violent persecution of Christians at the hands of jihadis. Israel cannot be blamed and Muslims cannot be portrayed as victims, so it doesn’t fit the media narrative.

Patriarch of Jerusalem: Patriarch of Antioch named as target in ISIS document

Orthodox Times, June 30, 2025:

In an exclusive interview with ΕΡΤΝews journalist Giorgos Sideris, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem addressed issues concerning the Israel-Iran conflict, the Greek Orthodox community in Syria, and broader dangers facing the Middle East.

“The situation in Syria deeply concerns us,” the Patriarch stated, referring to the deadly terrorist attack on the Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elijah in Damascus.

He recalled, “As soon as the crisis in Syria began, we were in contact with His Beatitude Patriarch John of Antioch. We had phone conversations during which he shared the difficulties they faced, information that I passed on to our relevant authorities.” After the attack, the Patriarch continued, “We again spoke by phone, and he told me he was scared.”

Patriarch Theophilos III further explained, “I then asked the Greek Consul General to arrange contact with the Greek Foreign Minister, Mr. Gerapetritis, who indeed called me from Brussels. We discussed extensively the situation of Christians in Syria and the wider Middle East.” He added that they provided the minister with intelligence, including a document from ISIS that disparaged Christians, describing them as those who “eat pork”, listed five Christian churches as potential next targets.

He also revealed that “I later learned that Patriarch John of Antioch himself had become a target.”

How is this an improvement over Assad? 

History > The High Point of the Byzantine Empire - Justinian

 

Mukundi MJ Mhuriro

nrotesSodplm89fau87t2h8313g1cl2hm15ui583hic8lcu20t09lci8517i  · 

Emperor Justinian I (c. 482–565), one of the most influential rulers of the Byzantine Empire, reigned from 527 to 565 CE. He is best known for his ambitious effort to restore the Roman Empire's former glory, a campaign known as the "Justinian Reconquest," which temporarily regained parts of North Africa, Italy, and Spain.

His most enduring legacy, however, lies in law and architecture. Justinian oversaw the codification of Roman law into what became known as the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law), which influenced the development of legal systems in Europe for centuries. He also commissioned the construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), one of the most magnificent architectural achievements of the ancient world.

A deeply devout Christian, Justinian promoted religious orthodoxy and sought to unify the empire through faith. Despite plagues, wars, and internal revolts, his reign marked a high point of Byzantine cultural and political power.

Like

Comment

Share

Search this blog for 'Hagia Sophia' for more information on the greatest church in Christendom.

=============================================================================================