WEST IS TRYING TO UNDERMINE INSTITUTION OF CHURCH

MOSCOW, JUNE 21 /SRNA/ – The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik stated that the West is attempting to dismantle the institution of the Church, reduce the importance and role of high-ranking clergy, and thereby undermine trust not only in the Church, but in faith itself.

Dodik emphasized that he has no issue openly stating his full support for the Russian Orthodox Church, which has for centuries successfully united the Russian Orthodox people, while also serving as a great authority for other churches and peoples, such as the Serbian people and the Serbian Orthodox Church. “It is absolutely clear that the West wants to bring hardship to the Orthodox world to which we belong—myself and others,” Dodik said. Commenting on the decision of the Armenian authorities to arrest businessman and benefactor of the Armenian Church, Samvel Karapetyan, Dodik stressed that the West is trying to encircle Russia or the Russian Orthodox Church and diminish its influence in the region. “It is absolutely unacceptable that today, especially from the West, we witness and hear such things—coming precisely from those who have persistently portrayed themselves as champions of human rights and freedoms, which also include freedom of religion,” Dodik told Sputnik. According to him, the West also made a grave mistake regarding the Russian Church in Kyiv, and this is yet another sign that they are not planning to stop. “That is why, in these difficult times, I offer the support of all of us who believe in Orthodoxy and in our right to profess our faith, to believe in God, and to pray for peace and human dignity,” Dodik concluded. Karapetyan was arrested on June 18 for a period of two months on charges of publicly inciting the seizure of power. Criminal proceedings were initiated after he publicly defended the Armenian Apostolic Church the previous day.