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21 April 2022, 17:08Ukrainian Orthodox Church proposes evacuating civilians, casualties from Mariupol
Moscow, April 21, Interfax - Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine has called for a humanitarian corridor to be provided to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to help evacuate civilians, injured servicemen and the bodies of the dead from Mariupol over the next three days.
"A feeling of heartfelt sorrow prompts us on the eve of the main Christian holiday, the Holy Resurrection of Jesus Christ, to pay attention to the need to save those who, left in long-suffering Mariupol, found themselves in a humanitarian disaster. To this day, a large number of civilians remain inside the city, among them there are many children and elderly people. Injured servicemen need urgent medical care. The bodies of the dead must be handed over to their families for proper burial," the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church said in a statement published on Thursday.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church through the efforts of the episcopate, clergy, monks and believers stands ready to organize a prayer procession from the town of Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region to the Azovstal plant in Mariupol in order to provide urgent assistance and evacuate civilians, the metropolitan said. Participants in the procession could also remove wounded military personnel and bodies of the dead.
"We appeal to all on whom it depends, and we ask that during the period from Good Friday (April 22) to Holy Resurrection (April 24), in the city of Mariupol and its suburbs, to ensure a ceasefire and provide a humanitarian corridor for the passage of the said prayer procession," Metropolitan Onufry said. |
