Report on Violations of the Rights of Orthodox Christians in Europe in 2016
October 6, 2017. An off-site meeting of the Committee of Representatives of the Orthodox Churches to the European Union (CROCEU) took place at the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations. The meeting on “The Manifestation of Solidarity of the Orthodox Church and the Peoples of the World in the Face of Extremism and Terrorism”.
Addressing all those present, Metropolitan Hilarion said in particular:
“We see these days that the grossest violations of human rights, first of all of Christians, are being committed in the zones of armed conflicts. People are deprived of basic necessities, suffering from hunger and various diseases, and are often subjected to tortures and violence, undergoing all possible afflictions. Believers in Christ are becoming martyrs and confessors. Great many people are trying to save their lives, using all means they can, including the inconceivable ones, to move to the countries of the Old World”.
ROC speaker to CROCEU, Hegumen Philip (Ryabykh) presented to the participants in the meeting the 2016 annual report of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Representation in Strasbourg on the violation of the rights of Orthodox Christians in Europe. The document mentions over 150 such cases.
Below we provide full text of the feport