In Ivano-Frankivsk, the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, the last temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), was seized by force. About it in my telegram channel informed press service of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina diocese.
According to her data , a group of two hundred people burst into the cathedral, some of whom were wearing masks and camouflage uniforms. They entered the building by breaking one of the entrance doors with a grinder and a crowbar.
Later abusers sprayed tear gas in the temple, as a result of which priests and parishioners were injured, the press service reported. A video posted on a Telegram channel shows them coughing and rubbing their eyes as they leave the building. At the same time, the secretary of the Ivano-Frankivsk diocese, Archpriest Vasily Romanyuk, had to be hospitalized – he lost consciousness and it was not possible to bring him to his senses on the spot.
According to the diocese, the attackers are supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU). The press office too noted that the police did nothing to prevent the intrusion into the temple.
“You yourself have seen what people possessed by an evil spirit are capable of, and the fact that the police in no way protect the life and health of Ukrainians of the Orthodox faith,” they said.
The seizure of the Ivano-Frankivsk temple took place against the background of a conflict between the Ukrainian authorities and the UOC, which has been going on since October 2022, from when the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) began to conduct searches in the temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The UOC priests are accused of links with Russia and pro-Russian position. In January, a bill was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, which involves a ban on the UOC MP in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian authorities also began to demand that the monks of the UOC leave the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, where they occupied its lower part (there is a monastery and caves with relics, while the upper part belongs to the historical and cultural reserve). On March 10, the church reported that it had received a letter from the administration of the reserve on the letterhead of the Ministry of Culture with a request to leave the monastery by March 29, because violations have revealed in the activities of the monastery and the tenancy agreement with her would be terminated. After that, the UOC called on believers to defend the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by all legal means.
Culture Minister Alexander Tkachenko said after the monks left the Lavra they would audit the “museum exhibits”, including the relics of saints. At the same time, he pointed out that the monks could stay in the Lavra if they were transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU) are two different structures. The UOC was established in 1990, the OCU was established in December 2018. The latter included representatives of the non-canonical Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC- KP). In January 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presented the OCU with a tomos of autocephaly.
