The removal of Prince Alexander Nevsky from the list of saints in Ukraine is a political order carried out by the “so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU)”. Vakhtang Kipshidze, deputy head of the synodal department of the Moscow Patriarchate responsible for relations between the church and society and the media, stated this in a conversation with socialbites.ca. According to him, this is how various forces are trying to increase religious hatred between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.
“The so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine is carrying out the political order it received from its founders, who, as we know, have nothing to do with Orthodoxy. This order is to purge the common heritage of Russian Orthodoxy from liturgical practices and the church calendar. This ideological order is carried out by OCU officials. The overall goal is to build a wall of distrust and religious hatred between the Russian and Ukrainian people. “Sowing discord in the sphere of historical Russia, which is of course beneficial for the forces that are interested in war, discord, the ongoing insecurity in this part of Europe and the fact that peace does not come for as long as possible,” Kipshidze said.
As reported on the religious organization’s website, on February 2, the OCU synod decided to remove the holy Prince of Kiev and Novgorod Alexander Nevsky (1221-1263) from the list of commemorated saints.
“Remove the day of commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the OCU church calendar. book Alexander of Novgorod (Nevsky), in the scheme of Alexei (in the monastery – Ed.), November 23,” says the description.
Instead, on November 23, the OCU decided to celebrate the memory of another Alexander, the founder of the “Vestless” monastery, whose memorial day in the Church is usually celebrated on March 7.
Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich Nevsky was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547. On November 23, believers remember the day of his funeral in Vladimir.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was founded in Kiev in 2018 with the support of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and received autocephaly from him.
The Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches do not recognize the canonical status of this organization. After the establishment of OCU, its supporters began to take over UOC churches by force.
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