ROCOR Chancellor Says U.S. Officials Finally Hearing Concerns Over UOC Persecution

Archpriest Serafim Gan. Photo: ru.eadiocese.org

NEW YORK — A senior cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) says American officials are beginning to pay attention to long-standing concerns about the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

Archpriest Serafim Gan, chancellor of the ROCOR Synod of Bishops, told RIA Novosti that although the Church has raised alarms for years, it is “only recently that the clergy have felt heard for the first time,” adding that he hopes politicians in Washington "will deal with this issue.”

His remarks followed a statement by Metropolitan Nicholas, First Hierarch of ROCOR, after a delegation of American Orthodox clergy held meetings on Capitol Hill. During these meetings, participants urged greater attention to what they describe as mounting pressure on the UOC.

“We are obliged to inform the ‘powers that be’ and the American public about the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Fr. Serafim said, calling the UOC the sole legitimate continuation of the historic Kyiv Church and dismissing the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) as a “schismatic structure.”

The State Department confirmed a meeting between Deputy Assistant Secretary Sarah Rogers and a delegation of Orthodox clergy and human-rights advocates, including representatives of ROCOR, the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), the Serbian Orthodox Church, and legal advisors supporting the UOC. Not mentioned in the RIA Novosti article is that representatives of the Antiochian Orthodox Church and Greek laity were also present.

UOC representatives and allied groups allege the Ukrainian government has carried out the largest campaign of repression in the Church’s recent history, citing church seizures, violence against clergy and faithful, and criminal cases initiated by the SBU. The Ukrainian parliament passed a law in 2024 enabling a ban on the UOC, a move Kyiv says is tied to national-security concerns but which the Church and its supporters denounce as unlawful persecution.

Previously, UOJ reported that Bishop Luke of Syracuse had penned a strongly worded letter to Rep. Joe Wilson.

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