Zaporozhye, January 14, 2021
Photo: spzh.news
On Tuesday, January 12, an unknown assailant attacked a priest of the Zaporozhye Diocese of the canonical Orthodox Church.
According to the Labarum. Sim Pobedishi Telegram channel, “a man passing by on the street suddenly stabbed [Archpriest Vladimir Gumenyuk] in the temple are and disappeared… The motive for the attack is unknown.”
Fr. Vladimir is known in the diocese for his many years of active missionary work and his faithful position in defense of the canonical Church.
Archpriest Alexander Ovcharenko, the press secretary of the Zaporozhye Diocese, commented on the attack, noting that he has known Fr. Vladimir for a long time and talks with him almost every week. “Fr. Vladimir is not an alarmist, he served in the Navy. He is an experienced priest.”
Fr. Vladimir himself said: “Fathers! Thank you all for your sympathy and prayers! I got off with a little fight. The knife hit the temporal fossa region, but didn’t hit anything important. The bones in my skull are intact. I walked to the hospital and left again on my own.”
Fr. Vladimir noted that the attacker was silent, and didn’t try to rob him. “Why he did this, I don’t know,” the recovering priest said.
However, Fr. Alexander reports that the next day after these messages from Fr. Vladimir, the situation proved to be more complicated, and surgery is needed to remove a hematoma, and possibly a bone implant.
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