Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, on Saturday dismissed allegations that the Russian Church is infringing on the sovereignty of Ukraine.
"I once again repeat to those who do not want to hear this – we are not trying to infringe either on the sovereignty of people or on national self-determination. We defend what belongs to God and what has been handed to the Church," Kirill told a congregation at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Dnepropetrovsk.
"If we renege on this defense, we will vanish from history as those have vanished who persecuted God’s Church and spoke ill of the name of Christ," he said.
"Let us pray for the prosperity of Ukraine and the entirety of historical Russia, that the Lord should keep the fraternal peoples in the unity of mind, make them cooperate like brothers, keep them aware of their community, and keep them in spiritual unity," the Patriarch said.
