R.P.Ts. REGISTERS SHARP RISE IN ATTACKS ON CANONICAL CHURCH BY UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTS
Interfax-Religiia, 5 March 2022
The Moscow patriarchate reported a substantial growth in the number of threats and attacks on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the time since the start of the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
"Under current circumstances, the brutality against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the part of radicals has grown greatly. There has been an increase of incidents of seizure of churches by nationalists, of looting, and of harassment of priests, who are receiving an enormous number of threats," said the head of the synodal Department for Relations of the Church with Society and News Media, Vladimir Legoida, on a broadcast of the Rossiia-24 television channel.
He recalled that, by the blessing of Patriarch Kirill, in every liturgy prayers are being raised that peace will be restored and "attempts by external forces, who are trying to divide our peoples, will not meet with success."
In Legoida's opinion, "it is very important that hatred not penetrate under church roofs and not penetrate our hearts," and this is impossible without prayer and deeds of assistance for victims. In connection with this, the representative of the RPTs declared that it has been providing aid to refugees since the first days of their arrival on Russian territory. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 March 2022)
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