Russian invaders tortured to death Stepan Podolchak, 59, an abbot at the OCu temple in the village of Kalanchak, Skadovsk district, Kherson region. A few days prior to that, the priest had been kidnapped from his apartment.
This is reported by the Center for Journalistic Investigations.
Svitlana Fomina, head of the Kalanchak village military administration, told the Center that two days ago, on February 13, Russian invaders broke into Podolchak’s home and arrested him. On February 15, they called his wife telling her to come identify the body.
“The Russians tortured him to death. He was the brightest person I was lucky enough to meet in my life. He was like an angel who came down to earth – faithful to God, pure in soul, honest and just. Stepan Podolchak moved to Kalanchak from Lviv region, and together with the believers, he had been building a church here for more than 10 years. He was always pro-Ukrainian, led all services in Ukrainian, and prayed for Ukraine, even under occupation. Apparently, because of this, the Russians took away the most valuable thing that a person has – his life,” said Svitlana Fomina.
According to her, in addition to Russian invaders, the abbot of the OCU church had another adversary – Mykhailo Kulyna, the abbot of the local UOC MP church. Fomina says Kulina has always been jealous of the OCU diocese because people gravitate to them and not to his church.
They say that Father Stepan was dragged out of the house barefoot, with a bag over his head.
At the same time, as the OCU bishop Borys of Kherson and Kakhovka reported, today eyewitnesses reported with the confirmation from special services that in the first half of the day, the occupiers in the village of Kalanchak, executed the abbot and builder of the All Saints’ Land Church, Ukrainian archpriest Stepan Podolchak.
“I am asking for prayers for the repose of the slain Ukrainian priest Mitrophorus Archpriest Stepan, and I am also asking for prayers for his grieving wife Halyna, his children and grandchildren, so that the Lord strengthens them in grief and protect them from ungodly attacks.
May the Lord receive the soul of the murdered archpriest Stepan in the abode of the righteous and, through the prayers of all the saints of the Ukrainian land, grant us the fastest possible victory over the horde,” the bishop wrote.
