Head of the Khmelnytskyi Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Bishop Pavlo of Khmelnytskyi and Kamianets-Podilskyi condemned the assault of a military serviceman in the Intercession Cathedral of the UOC (MP) in Khmelnytskyi.
The corresponding statement was published on Facevook by the Khmelnytskyi Diocese, Ukrinform reports.
“On behalf of the Khmelnytskyi Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and on my own behalf, I would like to note that we categorically condemn violence against our defenders, who at the front lines risk their most precious lives for us. It is also unacceptable when various insinuations are used to shift the sole blame to the serviceman himself. At the same time, it is obvious to us that the cause of such and similar situations is the long-term propaganda of the ‘Russian world,’ which is being spread in Khmelnytskyi through the Moscow Patriarchate. I’d like to emphasize separately that we reject violence as a way to solve accumulated problems and call on all the faithful of our diocese and those who support Ukraine not to commit it against the perpetrators of the shameful incident,” the statement reads.
The diocese called on the representatives of the government bodies to respond appropriately to the said incident and to the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Khmelnytskyi in general.
The diocese added that the soldier in question, Artur Ananiev, volunteered to go to the front as part of the 19th Separate Rifle Battalion at the very outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion. While defending Ukraine, he suffered a concussion and a brain injury.
In Khmelnytskyi, outside the Intercession Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP), where the incident involving the assault on a military serviceman took place on April 2, clashes broke out later on the same day between activists and representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP).
The UOC (MP) reported that the protesters held “illegal meetings, which they called meetings of the parish community, with the demand to seal the church, turned to the law enforcement officers and, shouting chanting, forced the clergy of the UOC out of the cathedral premises.”
The Khmelnytskyi Regional Military Administration called on citizens to reduce the “degree of tension” surrounding the clash in the UOC (MP) church, during which a military man was beaten, and to resolve the conflict in a legal way.
