MP: Arsons of monasteries are a result of discrimination policy against UOC

Vadim Novinsky, a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Photo: FB page of Novinsky’s press centre

On April 24, 2020, people's deputy of Ukraine Vadim Novinsky appealed to President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky and the leadership of law enforcement agencies with a demand to identify and punish those responsible for the arson and attacks on churches and monasteries of the UOC, as reported on the Facebook page of Novinsky’s press centre.

The message says that over the past 2 weeks in Ukraine unknown persons have committed 4 arsons of churches and monasteries. It is highlighted that if this problem is ignored, the consequences can be terrible.

“Indifference to this problem can have far-reaching consequences and lead not only to the violation of the rights of believers but also to a threat to human lives, as well as to the national security of Ukraine,” Novinsky emphasized. “In a democratic state, it is unacceptable to use anti-church and anti-religious propaganda, to violate the rights of believers, and use the media for the rhetoric aimed at sowing discord and enmity in society.”

The people's deputy is sure that the planned campaign against the UOC has again intensified in the state, which began with open calls in the media to ban the activities of the UOC and seize its temples.

“They tried to present the Church as an enemy of state policy to prevent the coronavirus pandemic, a source of danger to the health of citizens,” Novinsky noted. “All this gives reason to suspect the existence of a single, carefully coordinated action aimed at undermining the authority and destroying canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine and replacing it with pseudo-church surrogates, that is, we are dealing with the continuation of the policy of the Petro Poroshenko regime.”

The politician called on the head of state, the chairman of the SBU and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to take control of the situation, to curb abuses of radicals – supporters of one of the faiths, as well as "to stop the frenzied slanderous campaign against the UOC".

As reported earlier, on April 15, 2020, an old wooden St. Paraskeva of Serbia Church caught fire in the Chernivtsi-Bukovina Eparchy, the main version of the fire is an arson.

On April 21, 2020, a fire broke out on the territory of the Gamalievka Convent of the Holy Martyr Charalampus (UOC) in the Shostka district, the Sumy region.

On the night of April 24, 2020, a fire broke out on the territory of the Holy Dormition Monastery of the UOC in Odessa, which lasted about 3 hours. Representatives of the Odessa Eparchy almost immediately began to stream from the scene, during which they talked with witnesses, who first heard the explosion and then saw a suspicious man running away from the monastery with a bag or packet in his hands.

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