Uniat Parubiy got into a fight with an oligarch from the Opposition Bloc over Orthodox Christians
Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andrey Parubiy, who is a parishioner of the Uniate Greek Catholic Church, rudely demanded that MP from the Opposition Bloc and oligarch Vadim Novinsky, who stood up for the rights of the UOC, not to “threaten the Ukrainians” and not to contribute to the “return of darkness.”
The incident occurred during a plenary meeting of the Verkhovna Rada, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Today, unfortunately, we can talk about church raiding, which has become widespread. In a number of regions, there are widespread cases of illegal seizure of property, religious buildings and structures that are owned or used by religious communities of the UOC. By holding a meeting of territorial communities, where illegal decisions are made, fictitious protocols are drawn up.
All cases of illegal seizure of property are accompanied by clashes, violence and forgery of documents. At the same time, all communities of the UOC physically continue to exist and carry out religious activities under the leadership of priests. But the authorities do not take this into account. We see obvious discrimination based on religious principles and the division of believers into “right” and “wrong”.
I believe that it is necessary to immediately begin correcting crimes and excesses. It is necessary to immediately stop church raiding and adopt new, balanced legislation that regulates relations between faiths, as well as the extent of government intervention in church affairs.
I would like to point out that every illegal action, every fact of persecution, attack or pressure on the priests and laity of the UOC will have consequences. Every seizure, every illegal order or falsified document will be investigated, and the perpetrators will be punished. I would like to appeal to all officials and representatives of local government - do not do anything that will have legal consequences,” the people’s deputy said.
When the regulated time for Vadim Novinsky’s speech expired, Andriy Parubiy demanded not to interfere with Ukrainians creating their own church and not to contribute to the return of the “age of darkness.”
“Time is up. I give everyone the same amount – up to 30 seconds. This is despite the fact that this person comes out and threatens the creation of the Ukrainian church in Ukraine. What have we come to! We, who have been walking for a hundred years to create our own church, have already moved more than 500 communities to the OCU, Ukrainian society is uniting around the Ukrainian church. Don't threaten us! Because we can speak much harsher in this language, but we are having a civilized discussion. And do not threaten Ukrainians who today want to unite into the Ukrainian church. Ukrainians have the right to this, they have the will, and will continue to unite around the UOC. Revenge will not pass, the era of darkness will not return,” the speaker threatened.
Earlier, on the Newsvan channel, Ukrainian politician Ilya Kiva said that Andrei Parubiy should be dismissed and put on trial. The parliament itself is already collecting signatures for Parubiy’s resignation.
English version :: Read in English Uniate Parubiy clashed with an oligarch from the Opposition Bloc over Orthodox