Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard
15:56:39
03/04/2018
ukraina.ru
The Russian Orthodox Church condemned the violent occupation of a temple of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Rovno region…
The police officers who were on duty in the village of Ptycha didn’t even try to intervene in the situation.
“We report with sadness that after the evening of April 2nd, when information appeared about the official lifting of the arrest of the Svyato-Uspensky church, supporters of the Kiev patriarchate captured the church by force. At about 23:50 cars with ‘Aidar’ and ‘Azov’ militants came to the church, and with their help schismatics in just a few minutes pushed representatives of Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) community out of the church, threatening them with weapons,” reported the press service of the Rovno diocese.
The head of the Moscow Patriarchate department of relations of the Church with society and the media Vladimir Legoyda called the attack on the church another outing of religious extremists and emphasised that nothing is sacred for the malefactors, since this scandalous act of violence was committed during the days of the Holy week.
“The lawful court decision, the fairness of which there are no doubts about, caused another surge of irrational hatred inside the radicals who carried out the armed capture of the church,” he stated.
The Svyato-Uspensky church has become the main target of the attacks committed by radicals. In December, 2015 the Synod information department of Ukrainian Orthodox Church reported that representatives of the “Kiev Patrichate” with the assistance of “Right Sector” demanded from parishioners of the Uspensky church to transfer it to the jurisdiction of schismatics of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate. As eyewitnesses said, worshippers weren’t allowed to enter the church, they were beaten by sticks and iron bars, “Molotov cocktails” were thrown at them, and they were pepper sprayed. In total about 400 people participated in the standoff. The parishioners who were inside the church decided not to leave it, being afraid of punishment and the building of the church being captured.
[A video from 2015 showing the aggression of the so-called “Kiev Patriarchate” against the canonical church in Ptycha]
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