Last week, Russian occupation authorities in Crimea sealed the Church of the Resurrection of Christ of the Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the village of Zhovtneve, Kurmansky district.
This was reported by Voice of Crimea with reference to the rector of the church, Father Yaroslav.
According to the priest, a memo in Russian was glued to the door of the church: “Sealed. Property of the administration of the Zhovtneve village settlement”, with an official seal of the occupying local government.” The document was signed by the so-called “head of the village” O. Dankevich.
“Another de facto destruction of the OCU temple has taken place, which will be carried out by the occupying authorities with the help of local collaborators who betrayed Ukraine and who are serving their new ‘masters,’” said the abbot of the temple.
Earlier it was reported that in Yevpatoria, Russian occupiers dismantled the OCU’s Church of the Exaltation of the Cross.
It is known that since 2019, the OCU parish in Yevpatoria has been under pressure to comply with the decision of the occupation “court”, which ordered that the church be demolished. According to plan, this Yevpatoria temple was also to become the only museum of the ancient Ukrainian icon in Crimea. The invaders removed all ancient icons stored in the temple back in 2014, when the peninsula was occupied by Russia.
On September 11, in Kyiv, outside St. Michael’s Cathedral, three unidentified perpetrators assaulted Metropolitan Klyment of Crimea. The attack took place around 23:00, when he was on his way to his cell in St. Michael’s Monastery. The three culprits confronted him, turning to him with the words “Bless us, Vladyka”. After that they suddenly started throwing punches at the cleric. Klyment believes the attack was thoroughly planned as it took place in a blind spot for CCTV cameras.
