risu.org.ua - The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) at a meeting on February 24 adopted an appeal to the government in connection with the recent developments in Ukraine, in which the Synod condemned the “criminal actions of the government that provoked the bloodshed on the streets and squares of the gold-domed Kyiv” and assured of prayers for the dead and care of the wounded.

The Synod of the UOC-MP also stressed the importance of “building a new country on the principles of good and justice, territorial integrity, and consolidation of society” and that “the authorities should be aware of its responsibility before God, its own conscience, past, present and future generations.”

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church declares its readiness for constructive cooperation with state authorities in various spheres of public life and assured that it does not divide its faithful along political, territorial, ethnic, linguistic, or social lines.

The UOC-MP stressed that it supports maintaining the integrity of the Ukrainian state and urged the state government to prevent the collapse of the country. “We have to keep a single unified Ukraine for future generations. In the current situation of severe social stress, we must make every effort to preserve religious peace in Ukraine,” reads the statement.