Hierarch of the UOC about the demolition of Desyatynka: "The religious feelings of millions of believers are hurt"

The demolition of the existing memorial church of the Desyatinny Monastery in Kyiv is not just a tragic event in the history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Ukraine as a state. The current government has shown its inability to respect religion and once again emphasized that there is no longer religious freedom in Ukraine.

This is stated in the commentary of Metropolitan Theodosius (Snigirev) of the UOC, a human rights activist collaborating with the UN, a member of the International Human Rights Alliance “Church against Xenophobia and Discrimination,” the publication reports Union of Orthodox Journalists of Ukraine.

The hierarch emphasized that although the temple was registered as an IAF and formally the court decision may be legal, however, within the meaning of international law and based on the content of human rights and the principles of protecting religious freedom, the state had to assist the monastery in preparing the appropriate package of documents.

According to Bishop Theodosius, this is especially obvious due to the fact that the temple building was built in the center of the city a long time ago, and the authorities could not have been unaware of the lack of full legalization of this property by the monastery.

“Thus, according to the internationally recognized principles of human rights and religious freedom, it is the current government of Ukraine that bears responsibility for the failure to provide assistance to the monastery in documenting the rights to the temple building built with the actual consent of government authorities,” the bishop noted. In his opinion, today’s authorities also bear responsibility for the barbaric demolition of an existing religious building.

This, the bishop said, “not only once again violated the civil rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but also became an insult to the religious feelings of millions of believing citizens of Ukraine.”

On the night of May 17, 2024, the temple of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and Princess Olga of the Desyatinny Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, erected next to the place where the ancient Desyatinna Church, built in the 10th century, stood, was demolished. informs website of the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

According to those published in telegram channel According to the monastery, at about 22:00 on May 16, buses with police and military arrived at the Church of the Tithes. Later, a message appeared that law enforcement officers were trying to detain the monks of the monastery.

Telegram channel “Watch on Pershomu Kozatsky” reported that the entire territory of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine was cordoned off by police officers and people in military uniform. All approaches and stairs were blocked and blocked. The brethren of the Desyatinny Monastery were not allowed to enter the Vladimir-Olginsky Church, and one priest, who wanted to remove a copy of the icon of the Mother of God “Vladimir-Olginnaya” from the destroyed building, was confronted by police representatives twist your armsand he had to leave the territory of the monastery.

Soon, empty dump trucks arrived on the territory of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. At 23.28, lawyer and clergyman of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Nikita Chekman, wrote in his telegram channelthat the temple began to be destroyed using special equipment. Eyewitnesses shared information that mobile communications were jammed in this area.

Shortly after midnight, trucks began removing debris from the demolished church. The fact of the destruction of the temple was confirmed by the telegram channel of the Desyatinny Monastery. By morning there was an empty area there. Only one bronze image survived, which was mounted into the wall.

He laid flowers at the place where the Tithe Temple stood Metropolitan of Cherkassy and Kanevsky Theodosiusreports telegram channel “Cherkasy Blagovestnik”. “For me, as a native Kiev resident, what happened today is a tragedy,” Metropolitan Feodosius commented on the incident. — What else can you call the barbaric demolition of an existing Orthodox church in the center of Kyiv? Tragedy. And where the tragedy occurred, flowers are laid. I am here today not as a hierarch, but as a citizen and citizen of Kiev from birth. I think that today many residents of the capital, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, believers and non-believers, will follow our example. After all, not everyone has yet had their conscience completely mutilated and their memory trampled underfoot…”

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