Six priests of the UOC-MP lost his life in the South-East of Ukraine

Six Orthodox clergy, according to the summary data, lost their lives as a result of hostilities in the South-East of Ukraine In the current year, it said in a statement Tuesday report-monitoring of the Russian Institute of strategic studies (RISS), devoted to the facts of the persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.

first in the Russian Orthodox Church reported the death of three priests from the beginning of the armed conflict in South-Eastern Ukraine - Archpriest Vladimir Crescenzago and priest George Nikishov (Luhansk region) and priest Paul Zhuchenko (Donetsk region).

according to the information RISS, among the dead also Archpriest Eugene Podgorny, Igor Sergienko and Sergius Piven wife (all of the Donetsk region). The review did not report how they have died Authorized clergy.

in addition, some of the clergy of the UOC-MP became victims of attacks or get in danger from nationalists accusing them of using or loyal attitude to the militia. Several priests were damaged as a result of shelling settlements Ukrainian law enforcers. The study RISS are also cases when under pressure from local police organization Authorized clergy were obliged to leave the territory of Ukraine.

" in Zaporozhye diocese is the system pressure for another six priests. Security service in the ultimatum forcing them to leave the country or threatens to prison, " it is reported, for example, in the report.

the monitoring includes the facts of the attacks on the churches of the UOC-MP, or attempts grabs, starting from February 2014 - a total of about 70 such cases. As noted in the RISS, the collected facts of the crimes are only the tip of the iceberg and do not give a real idea about the frequency of attacks on churches and clergy, As Ukrainian secular and Church media ignore information about the real number of crimes relative to the UOC-MP and violations of civil rights and liberties of the faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine." The real scale of these persecutions is unknown, because no accurate statistics, " reads the study.

Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill at the end of the second decade of November reported that since spring this year, about 50 Russian Orthodox churches in the South-East of Ukraine " either completely destroyed or severely damaged by well-aimed blows Ukrainian artillery ". For his part, the head of the Union of Orthodox Citizens of Ukraine Valery Kaurov during an international conference in RISS, which was shown monitoring, said that after the coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014 More than twenty churches of the Moscow Patriarchate in the country already captured by the dissenters.


sections: Politics