Vandals desecrate a UOC temple in Khmelnytskyi Region

Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Yarmolyntsi. Photo: facebook.com/khmeparhiya

During the night of October 7-8, 2023, unknown individuals vandalized the gates near the Peter and Paul Church in the village of Yarmolyntsi in the Khmelnytskyi district of the Khmelnytskyi Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by painting them with red paint.

According to the diocese's press service, the act of vandalism was discovered by members of the religious community who arrived for Sunday worship in the morning.

The diocese has noted that "after committing such unlawful acts on October 5, 2023, in the village of Raikivtsi, Khmelnytskyi district, the wrongdoers continued to desecrate places of worship of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This not only contradicts Ukrainian legislation but also violates basic societal norms."

Parishioners of the Peter and Paul Church in the village of Yarmolyntsi are preparing an appropriate statement to law enforcement agencies to identify the individuals involved in the illegal act, hold them accountable, and prevent acts of vandalism in the future.

The Khmelnytskyi Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church emphasizes that "following the recent report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which revealed illegal actions against the UOC, it is essential to prevent the further spread of hate speech based on religious grounds concerning the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

"In any other case, such legal violations, which will undoubtedly be documented by UN monitoring missions, will have a negative impact on our country's reputation on the international stage," the diocese's press service underscored.

Previously, the UOJ reported that in Raikivtsi, vandals splattered red paint on the walls of a UOC church.

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