(RISU) - The Odesa Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate published an official statement regarding the possibility of constructing a Greek Catholic church in Odesa. "In Odesa, where the vast majority of the residents are believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, there is such a small number of Greek Catholics that there is no need to build not only a cathedral but even a prayer house for the Uniates," stated Metropolitan Ahafanhel (Savin) of Odesa and Izmail of the UOC, who is also a deputy of the Odesa Regional State Administration and a representative of the Party of Regions.
The statement reads that "the expected construction in Odesa, on the territory of the Prokhoriv Public Garden, of a cathedral of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the Uniates' attempt to aggressive expand in the Odesa region."
According to the press service of the Odesa Eparchy of the UOC, the construction of a cathedral of the UGCC in the Orthodox city of Odesa will cause indignation and protest of the clergy and the Orthodox believers of the Odesa region, "will create in our peaceful city a situation of the interreligious conflict, will not be conducive to strengthening peace and social agreement in the Odesa region."
In the end, the statement reads that Metropolitan of Odesa of the UOC and the clergy of the Odesa Eparchy consider it unadvisable and very dangerous to construct a religious object "of Uniates in the capital of our region."
Further Information:
As of March 2010, there are 10,000 Greek Catholics in Odesa. In addition, according to the Chancellor of Odesa-Crimean Exarchate of the UGCC, Volodymyr Zhdan, there are several large Greek Catholic communities in Odesa Oblast, such as Ilichivska, Rozdilnianska, Berezovska, etc.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
UOC-MP: no UGCC cathedral in Odessa
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Do the Ukrainian Greek Catholics have parishes in Odessa and just want a cathedral or do the have no churches and want a cathedral to be the first? I'm confused. 10,000 UKrainian Greek Catholics is no small number in any city. Someone please clarify.
ReplyDeleteI concur with the above. A cathedral might be problematic. But if the UOC is trying to tell the Uniates that they can't have a church in the city, I think that is frankly unreasonable. The entire tone of this statement is rather regrettable. It seems certain to play into the hands of Catholics who are forever accusing the Orthodox of persecuting them.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious comment many Catholics will make (both Greek and Latin) is that the Latin Church bends over backwards to provide use of church buildings in Europe and the US only to be blocked wherever possible in Slavic lands. For the UGCC, hunted down and broken apart under Soviet rule, continued persecution stings and at the same time shows the world a Church still in throws of martyrdom - a heady cocktail that will certainly draw attention.
ReplyDeleteOur mission parish is an example of what Josephus referred to -- we have use of a facility that belongs to a Catholic parish at a very reasonable price. They are cutting us quite a deal. This sort of behavior by the UOC-MP is shameful.
ReplyDelete