Kiev, July 30, 2018
Photo: spzh.news Churches, clergy, and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate have been heroically enduring threats and violence for years now from radical schismatics who hate Russia and the Russian Church, of which the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is an autonomous body.
The radicals do not hesitate to attack their fellow Ukrainians, although they characterize themselves as pro-Ukrainian nationalists.
Talk of creating an autocephalous Ukrainian Church has ramped up since President Petro Poroshenko formally appealed for autocephaly to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in April. Given that the canonical Ukrainian Church rejects this initiative, and given the weekend’s “competing” celebrations of the 1,030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, the radicals have become more incensed and enraged with passion, upping their attacks on the true Church of Christ.
The most recent reports from over the weekend detail the use of and threats of bombs against parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, according to the nationalist-radicals.
Police received a report on Saturday that bombs had been placed in the cathedrals and churches in 9 locations throughout the southern Ukrainian Nikolaev Province, because the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church “has no place in Ukraine,” the unknown suspects told the police, according to the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The threat was received via e-mail on the morning of the 28th.
Some of the parishes received word of the bomb threat during the Divine Liturgy for St. Vladimir and the 1,030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’. The clergy had to stop their services and evacuate the faithful.
According to the police, after checking the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos and St. Nicholas Cathedral and the surrounding areas, no explosive devices or objects that could pose a threat to human life were found.
Photo: news.church.ua The next day, several unknown persons committed an act of vandalism against the Church of St. Spyridon in Kiev, throwing a smoke bomb through the window during the Sunday Divine Liturgy, reports the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The criminals also painted offensive remarks on one of the outer walls of the church.
The parish was likely targeted because its rector is Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, the Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who often speaks against the violence of the schismatic-radicals and their vain attempts to receive a tomos of autocephaly.
The guard on duty quickly through the smoke bomb off the premises of the church and called the police.
In both cases, official complaints have been made and police have opened investigations.
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