UOC hierarch: Raiding in Zadubrivka is terror against the Church of Christ

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol. Photo: ruskline.ru

On May 5, 2020, Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol published a comment in connection with an attempt to seize the Archangel Michael Church of the Chernivtsi-Bukovinina Eparchy of the UOC in the village of Zadubrivka and the beating of the faithful by OCU activists. The message is published on the hierarch’s Telegram channel.

The bishop emphasizes that “the terror against the Church of Christ in our country continues. After a series of arson of temples and monasteries, physical reprisals against believers began. What happened that night in the church of the village of Zadubrivka in the Chernivtsi region is a real terrorist operation.

Turning off the lights, blocking the road to the village, two buses of armed terrorists, the brutal beating of parishioners with bats and armature, knife wounds, driving out women from the temple premises with tear gas, ignoring the requirements of law enforcement officers who arrived on call, hospitalization of seriously injured victims. This is happening not in the depths of Africa or Asia but in a country that has been talking about its European choice for years. All these are the fruits of the persecution of the UOC, which is unleashed by anti-Christian forces in the media.”

Metropolitan Luke reminded that in 2019, Ukrainians voted for Vladimir Zelensky, who promised that he would do everything to unite the people of our country, and urged him to keep his promises.

“Our Church has prayed and keeps praying that there will be peace in Ukraine, that our Motherland will live according to the norms and laws of a civilized state, that the government does not bend under the wild and frenzied people but can put them in their place or imprison them.

No matter how events develop further, we will remain faithful to God and our Mother Church. One saint said: "If we protect our temples, we will have places to go to God on earth; if they kill us, we will go to God right to Heaven." We have only these two ways, and both roads are fine with us,” concluded the bishop.

As reported earlier, on May 4 activists of the OCU took advantage of the difficult situation in the family of the rector of the UOC church and attempted to seize the Archangel Michael Church. OCU supporters blocked the main road to Zadubrivka while armed raiders in balaclavas beat the defenders of the church and tried to break open the church locks.

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