Multiple Republican Congressmen Submit Letter to DOJ Asking for Investigation of ROCOR
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) signed a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting review of ROCOR.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of a movement that was started by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, two more congressmen signed a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate whether Russia has tried to “recruit, leverage, influence, or otherwise compromise the independence" of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). The letter was sent to Bondi's office on Thursday.
According to reporting from the Daily Caller, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and U.S. Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) joined Wilson in submitting the request. The letter was initially reported on by The Hill in an inaccurate article titled, "White House to meet clergy with ties to pro-war Russian Orthodox Church."
"It has come to our attention that ROCOR leadership is engaging in lobbying efforts claiming to represent interests of Ukrainian Christians," the letter states. "This development raises legitimate concerns that ROCOR or other entities subordinate to Patriarch Kirill could serve as vehicles for intelligence collection or sabotage operations directed at U.S. policymakers."
In a statement last week, His Eminence Met. Nicholas, First Hierarch of ROCOR, said:
"The freedom to pray and to act in accordance with God’s commandments is something we highly prize as citizens of the world’s pre-eminent democracy and it is a gift that we believe the whole world should share."
He also added that this gift of liberty is something his own family sought when fleeing the oppression of the Soviet Union and immigrating to America. Bishop Luke of Syracuse echoed this sentiment in a letter to Wilson, describing the accusations as particularly painful in light of his own family history. His grandparents fled centuries of persecution under Austro-Hungarian rule, he wrote, and found in the United States a place where they could freely practice their Orthodox faith. His father later fought for the country at Iwo Jima.
Both hierarchs emphasized that ROCOR is appreciative of the 2007 Act of Canonical Communion, which brought the two Churches back into communion with one another while maintaining ROCOR's administrative independence.
Furthermore, the individuals who held meetings on Capitol Hill last week spanned from multiple Orthodox jurisdictions and were part of a delegation of several U.S. citizens who met with policymakers in the nation's capital, as is their constitutional right.
A lawyer working for Robert Amsterdam, who represents the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), told the Daily Caller that "the delegation had not suggested halting U.S. aid to Ukrainian forces but was only speaking to the rights of UOC members who face unfair treatment from the Ukrainian government for alleged relations with Moscow."
Amsterdam himself also spoke to the Daily Caller, saying:
“Even at the height of the Cold War, the United States left these churches to worship peaceably. It is shocking that there are sitting congressmen willing so blatantly to violate the founding principles of this nation — the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech — and put these churches and their parishioners at risk of reprisals.”
A ROCOR priest who remained anonymous told the Daily Caller that not only ROCOR, but also representatives of the OCA, Antioch, and Serbia were in the meetings. These jurisdictions account for roughly 80% of the Orthodox faithful in the U.S., he said.
Previously, UOJ reported that South Carolina State Rep. Thomas Beach said Wilson's comments are "beneath the office."
