The Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine continues to face persecution from the state and the schismatics of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” who continue their bloody attacks on churches and their fellow Ukrainians who remain faithful to Orthodoxy.
At least four churches were attacked by these schismatics and nationalists in just one day this week, Tuesday, April 8. They assaulted several people, leaving at least one young woman bleeding, reports Foma, with reference to Ukrainian outlets. In some cases, they managed to seize the churches, and in some they were driven away by the Orthodox parishioners.
Early in the morning, St. Michael’s Church in the village of Svetilnya, Kyiv Province, was seized. Police officers sat in a parked car idly watching as an unknown man cut through the church doors with an angle grinder
The same day, violent activists of the OCU, which enjoys the support of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Ukrainian state, seized another church in the Kiev Province—the Holy Dormition Church in the village of Stary Bezradichi.
In this attack, they were led by “Igumen” Vikenty Kozak, secretary of the OCU’s Diocese of Pereyaslav and Vysheneve
Late that evening of the same day, there was an attempt to seize the Church of the Holy Archangels Gabriel and Michael in the city of Storozhinets, Chernivtsi Province.
Upon learning of the plans to seize the church, about 500 parishioners came out to defend it. The clergy and parishioners prayed, proclaiming “Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!” in Church Slavonic, Greek, and Romanian.
And on the night of April 8-9, a group of raiders tried to seize the St. Nicholas Church in the village of Verkhny Stanovtsi, also in the same Chernivtsi Province.
The perpetrators managed to break down the church’s doors and barricade themselves inside. Armed with batons and tear gas, they beat several people, mostly women and elderly parishioners.
A girl with streaks of blood on her face was seen on one of the live broadcasts:
The gang of mercenaries was led by OCU ‘priest’ Roman Hryshchuk. Although he hid his face under a hood, St. Nicholas parishioners recognized him.
Nevertheless, the raiders failed to keep the church for themselves, because when the female parishioners told the men of the parish about what had happened, they managed to force the invaders out.
“Armed bandits wanted to seize the church, but hundreds of parishioners who came running to defend the shrine drove them out of the Orthodox church in disgrace. Having failed to achieve their goal, the bandits, led by an OCU priest, destroyed the altar, the sacristan, and all the furnishings of the Orthodox church,” reports the Orthobuk Telegram channel.
