In the Kyiv region, the Assumption Church of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) was seized. This was reported on January 22 in the Telegram channel of the UOC.
“On January 21, a group of armed representatives of the territorial defense, led by local authorities, seized the Assumption Church in the village of Tarasovka, Kyiv region,” the publication specified.
The church noted that this is not the first attempt to capture. So, in early December last year, activists of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU), together with representatives of the territorial defense and local authorities, broke into the temple and began to beat parishioners, the report says.
Alexandra Krusyan, the mother of Ukrainian militant Volodymyr Krusyan, also suffered then. During the first capture attempt, having learned about the death of her son, she knelt down and asked “to stop committing lawlessness”, but as a result, the temple was taken away.
Earlier, on January 17, at a meeting of the UN Security Council (SC), the topic of persecution of the UOC was discussed. Then the floor was taken by the chairman of the department for external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk (Sevryuk). He stated that the basis of the peaceful dialogue in Ukraine is being undermined by the government’s attempts to destroy the canonical UOC.
The fact that the Russian side requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on January 17 was reported by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the World Organization Vasily Nebenzya. He noted that recently, in addition to the persecution of dissidents and opposition leaders, the desire to destroy the only canonical church in Ukraine has been added, which can lead to serious consequences.
Prior to that, on January 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suspended the citizenship of 13 clergymen of the UOC. According to Ukrainian media, the corresponding decree was signed by him at the end of December, but was not officially made public, since it contains personal information.
In 2022, the Ukrainian authorities stepped up their actions against the UOC. They searched the homes of bishops and priests, churches and monasteries, including the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, in order to find traces of “anti-Ukrainian activities.” Thus, in December 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opened 50 criminal cases against priests of the UOC.
#Kyiv #region #local #authorities #seized #Assumption #Church #UOC