It is not yet known what Russia’s territorial claims in Ukraine are – whether it intends to annex, for example, the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, as it did with Crimea in 2014, or whether it plans to temporarily or permanently occupy the entire country.
In any case, Christians fear that religious persecution policies adopted in those regions and by Russia itself on its territory will be implemented in the rest of Ukraine.
According to a report released by the international Christian organization Open Doors, last year 23 administrative proceedings were registered in Crimea under the Yarovaya laws, imposed by Russia as a justification for combating terrorism but which became known as “anti-missionary laws”.
Open Doors reported that at the Potter House Protestant Church in Sevastopol, a pastor and a church member were fined for leading services and another church member was fined twice for attending the ceremonies. Posts on the church’s social media channels partially based these sanctions.
According to the report, members and the pastor of the same church had previously been charged with carrying out missionary activities, such as handing out tracts and singing at a bus stop.
In February, Russian security services raided a Protestant church in Kerch, a city in eastern Crimea, and a church member was charged and fined for handing leaflets to two women who were not members of the community. In Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been persecuted as an “extremist” group since 2017.
Open Doors reported that in Lugansk and Donetsk, regions recognized by Russia last week as independent republics but which were not annexed by Moscow, “anti-missionary laws” are not enforced, but local authorities make their own religious laws and arrive to be more severe in its actions against certain denominations than Russia itself.
“As in the days of the Soviet Union”
According to another report by the organization, a December 2019 list of 195 religious organizations registered by the Lugansk authorities showed that no operating permits were granted to Protestant communities.
“As in the old days of the Soviet Union, the obligation to register with the authorities is being used to make certain Christian activities illegal. No registration means no access to gas, electricity or water – making church activities virtually impossible,” an Open Doors analyst said in the statement.
Last year, three Protestant churches were banned in Donetsk and others had buildings confiscated. In Lugansk, books by theologians Charles Spurgeon and Billy Graham were placed on a list of “extremist” literature banned by a court.
Before the Russian invasion, religious leaders told Open Doors that they would open their churches to those persecuted for their faith. After the military action, the organization was unable to contact them.
Persecuted Ukrainian Catholic Church
In an interview with the Catholic News Agency, Archbishop Borys Gudziak, leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church (of Byzantine rite) in the United States, also expressed fear of persecution.
“Every time Russia, in the last 200 years, occupied Ukrainian territory where the Ukrainian Catholic Church was, the Ukrainian Catholic Church was exterminated. It may not be right away. It could be in a year or two, or it could be in 20 years or 30 years. But sooner or later, the visible and public existence and ministry of the Ukrainian Catholic Church was strangled,” she said.
Gudziak pointed out that this repression “happened in the 1820s, in 1870, in 1945 and 1946”, and has taken place in the last eight years in Crimea and in the territories occupied by pro-Russian separatists.
“Our church therefore believes that a Russian occupation would bring persecution to the Ukrainian Catholic Church,” he lamented.
#Ukraine #Christians #fear #religious #persecution #Russian #invasion