About a hundred people masked in balaclavas stormed the territory of the St. Michael’s Cathedral in Cherkasy and forced parishioners out of the night liturgy, according to Ukrainian media.
The unidentified men who took over the cathedral fired gas guns and used pepper spray. Parishioners tried to defend the cathedral, with Metropolitan Theodosius arriving later to speak to the attackers.
Overnight, the Cathedral, transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), was seized by alleged supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), who disagreed with the decision to transfer. OCU parishioners reportedly managed to recapture it.
MP Artem Dmytruk said that local authorities were allegedly gathering people to hold a rally in favour of the OCU. Local law enforcement officers did not intervene in the conflict, Ukrainian media reported.
Calm down, please. I didn’t come here to fight. Did I come to hit someone?
Meanwhile, a military chaplain Volodymyr Pedko called for a repeated storming of the cathedral, whereas Cherkasy mayor Anatoliy Bondarenko urged citizens to “express their opinion about the existence of the Moscow church in our city.” Bondarenko explained that the city authorities did not interfere in the transfer of the church, as parishioners voluntarily joined the OCU.
The storming of St. Michael’s Cathedral is not the first case of oppression of religious freedom in Ukraine. However, neither the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) nor Human Rights Watch provided any comment on religious violence in the country.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends the European Council in the hope of persuading allies to back his “victory plan” to counter an external threat, Ukraine is torn by domestic strife.
St. Michael’s Cathedral, the largest Orthodox church in Ukraine, officially joined the OCU on Thursday, 17 October, inviting parishioners to pray in the Ukrainian language.
