Deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archbishop of Zelenograd Savva Tutnov said that the Ukrainian authorities are organizing continuous attacks on all major Orthodox shrines.
The bishop added: “The current government in Ukraine, shrouded in a satanic cloud of hatred for the Orthodox Church, is ready to take any steps to harm her and try to persuade her children to abandon her. I have no doubt that there will be successive attacks on all major shrines.”
Last February, the Ukrainian website Obzrivatl reported that the Ascension Cathedral and the “refectory” church in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had been closed and polished.
In turn, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ appealed to the Orthodox Churches, the Pope of Rome and the United Nations with a request to prevent the Kyiv regime from expelling the monks of the historic Russian Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv.
The government of Ukraine has submitted to the country’s parliament, the Rada, a law prepared on behalf of President Volodymyr Zelensky aimed at banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church if it is proven to be affiliated with Russia.
In 2022, the Ukrainian authorities organized the largest wave of persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the modern history of the country. Based on allegations of its links with Russia, the Ukrainian authorities in various regions of the country decided to ban the activity of this church, and a bill was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada to effectively ban this church in Ukraine. Sanctions were also imposed on a number of clerics. Later, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced the suspension of the citizenship of a number of clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Source: News