The UOC is holding back parishioners from mass street protests, but people are determined to take a decisive action to protect their Church, Father Nikolai said.

Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, said in the Right to Faith program on the First Cossack youtube channel that parishioners are ready to take to the streets en masse to protest against the pressure of the authorities on the Church, but so far these impulses are being held back in parishes.

“We will defend our rights by all legal means. If the authorities stop their ears, we will take to the streets, a lot of people are ready to go out, if there is no progress from the state,” said the spokesman of the UOC. “People want it themselves; we even restrain them to some extent.”

He noted that now the standard rules of interaction are flouted, and the reaction to this may be unpredictable. But there is hope for a peaceful solution to the problems if parishioners show their social and public position while protecting their Church. “If we were just a few, this would be one thing, but there are plenty of us, and we must use this multitude to defend our Church. Don’t sit and wait for someone else to do it. The fate of our Church now depends on each of us,” Father Nikolai summed up.

As the UOJ reported, in case of pressure, the Church can react as in Montenegro, assures the UOC spokesman.