The visit of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All-Russia to Ukraine and Odesa is an attempt to restore the past, atheism and communism, Bishop Yakiv of Odesa and Balta of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate said at a press conference in Odesa on Wednesday.
"In fact, the church has received a vacuum-like spiritual emptiness in the past, difficult years, a time of atheism and communism. At present, the goal of the church is to renew and enrich people spiritually… But we see how our neighbors are generously are trying to restore the past," he said, referring to the Moscow Patriarchate.
Head of Odesa regional All-Ukrainian Svoboda Association Pavlo Kyrylenko, in turn, said the patriarch’s visit was a visit by a Kremlin mentor and agent of the State Security Committee (KGB) and the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation.
"The present Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, in common with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (of the Moscow Patriarchate), supports those political forces that, in fact, have [attempted to] destroy the Christian Church, and the Orthodox Church since 1917… How can such people support political forces that eliminated hundreds of thousands of Orthodox priests and destroyed the Orthodox Church? So, we can conclude that all these veritable patriarchs are Kremlin mentors and agents of KGB and FSB," Kyrylenko said.
