Ukrayinska Pravda has learned that at least 20 UOC-MP clerics have Russian passports.
Metropolitan of the UOC-MP Onufry (in the world Orest Berezovsky) and more than 20 clerics of this church structure have Russian citizenship. This is stated in the investigation of the Ukrainian truth, published on Friday, April 7. It refers to the data of the Rospassport system.
The media said that on March 20, 2002, Onufry received a Russian passport in Moscow. A year later, on June 23, 2003, he also received a foreign passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation. In 1998, a priest in Moscow was already granted a passport. This indicates that Onufry had Russian citizenship earlier than since 2002.
The bishop of the UOC-MP and the abbot of the tithe monastery Gideon (Yuri Kharon) also has a Russian passport. He already received it in 2019 in Moscow, and in 2020 – two Russian passports.
The publication found that in January 2023, a year after the Russian army’s massive invasion of Ukraine, Gideon was serving in Russian Kazan. The cleric’s prayer contained words of support for the Russian invaders and approval of the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
In December 2022, the ex-Metropolitan of Izyum and Kupyansky Elisey (Oleg Ivanov) also received a Russian passport. After the conquest of Izyum, Eliseo continued to pray for Patriarch Kirill and began to work for the work authorities. He hosted representatives of the occupation administration of the Kharkov region in his temple.
After the de-occupation of Izyum, Ivanov fled to Belgorod.
The publication confirmed the information about the existence of more than 20 Russian passports among the clergy of the UOC-MP.
The media mentioned as an example some of the names of UOC-MP priests with Russian citizenship:
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Metropolitan of Tulchinsky and Bratslavsky Ionofan (Anatoly Yeletskikh);
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vicar of the diocese of Tulchinsk, Bishop of Ladyzhinsky Sergiy (Sergey Anitsa);
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Vicar of the Kyiv diocese, Archbishop Panteleimon (Viktor Bashchuk);
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Metropolitan Meletiy (Valentin Egorenko), head of the diocese of Chernivtsi-Bukovina;
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Metropolitan Mark (Nikolai Petrovtsiy), head of the Khust diocese;
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Metropolitan Irenaeus (Ivan Seredniy), head of the Dnepropetrovsk diocese.
As already reported, the head of the city of Rivne, Alexander Tretyak, announced plans to terminate all land lease agreements with the UOC-MP.
Recall that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate ceased to exist in Lviv.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.