The hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Klyment of Crimea and Simferopol called the capture by Russian security forces of the OCU cathedral in temporarily occupied Simferopol “an act of ethnocide,” and called on the authorities to react.
Klyment appealed to the Ukrainian authorities, international partners and the diplomatic corps with a request to provide an appropriate assessment for the act, reports the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.
According to the cleric, this is the only Orthodox church, which over the nine years of Russian occupation of the peninsula has remained the main center of Ukrainianism in Crimea. Now the bailiffs, in fact, looted the cathedral, he said.
“This is not only a religious, but also a spiritual and cultural object. We need protection and special attention to this situation. Now the main task is to preserve at least the relics, holy relics, icons, objects of cult use that remained there. I call on the Ukrainian authorities to give an appropriate assessment for this,” Klyment said.
He said that the occupiers explained their actions by entity registration issues as per Russian legislation.
While claiming “persecution of believers” in Ukraine, on May 11, 2023, the Russian occupiers themselves began looting the Cathedral of Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Volodymyr and Olha of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Simferopol.
