OCU "hierarch" on brutal beating in Cherkasy: self-defence of our believers

Cherkasy "hierarch" assured that it was the clerics of the UOC with fractures who beat the raiders of the monastery in Cherkasy. Photo: OCU

The Cherkasy "metropolitan" of the OCU, Ioann Yaremenko, arranged a press conference on the scandalous forceful seizure of the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos of the UOC, during which bandits in camouflage and with cold weapons climbed over the fence of the temple and staged a brutal beating of the temple's clerics and parishioners. The conference was published on Facebook of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the OCU.

Despite the fact that the video of the beating was widely circulated on social networks and caused a negative reaction even within the OCU itself, Yaremenko said that there was no beating and it was the "power wing of the Moscow church" that beat up peaceful parishioners of the OCU who wanted to get into their temple.

"All reproaches that there was allegedly some beating by the OCU of representatives of this UOC community do not correspond to reality. On Monday (20 November, the day of the seizure – Ed.) there was self-defence of parishioners who defended themselves from being thrown into the fight by these individuals," Yaremenko said and listed the injured UOC clerics and parishioners, describing their severe fractures and injuries as "as they say, beatings".

"They themselves rushed to fight and beat the parishioners of this community (OCU – Ed.)," assured the "hierarch". At the same time, he called 76-year-old parishioner Oleh Slobodianyk, who the "peaceful parishioners of the OCU" broke his leg in two places and deprived of sight in one eye, a "forceful group of obstruction to transitions".

As a result of the brutal beating by the "OCU believers", four people were hospitalised. In addition to Slobodianyk, the bandits broke the jaw in two places of Fr Serhiy Pashchenko. Reader Vyacheslav Korkots suffered a concussion and another parishioner had an arm laceration.

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