Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew should express his opinion about the draft law that opens the way to the ban of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said Robert Amsterdam, a well-known American lawyer and UOC lawyer, publishing a corresponding appeal to Bartholomew in an open letter.
"Despite Patriarch Bartholomew's promise to respect all Ukrainian Orthodox denominations and promote an ecosystem of mutual understanding when granting the tomos to the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine, his decision opened Pandora's box. Silence about the increasingly escalating situation has made the Ukrainian Orthodox Church the target of a brutal and unlimited campaign of intimidation by the Ukrainian authorities," writes Amsterdam.
Amsterdam's letter contains a request to the Ecumenical Patriarch to fulfill his promise to support "order without tyranny and justice associated with mercy and compassion."
"In view of his role in Orthodoxy and his past actions to support the creation of a new OCU church in Ukraine, Patriarch Bartholomew has a moral obligation to call "not to divide Christ", to oppose the ban of the UOC and the persecution of Orthodox believers in Ukraine," - stated Robert Amsterdam.
