In Strilsk, unknown person blows up UOC prayer house
The diocese notes that this is not the first act of vandalism against the community since the church was seized.
In the St. Protection community of the village of Strilsk, part of the Sarny-Polissia diocese of the UOC, unknown individuals threw a grenade into the prayer room, resulting in an explosion and partial destruction of the building, according to the diocese's press service.
The UOC faithful view this explosion not only as the destruction of their prayer space, which they have used since the raider seizure of their church by supporters of the OCU, but also as a physical assault on Ukrainian citizens and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The clergy and believers are concerned that after the Verkhovna Rada deputies voted for the adoption of Law 8371, the destruction of Ukrainian citizens who adhere to the faith in Jesus Christ and follow the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, may now be carried out with explosives.
"We hope that the investigative team from the Sarny district police department, which arrived at the crime scene, will enter this case into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations," said the rector of the St. Protection community, Archpriest Oleh Havrylchyk.
The diocese reminds that this incident is not the first display of hatred towards the church community in Strelsk. In July 2019, there was already an act of vandalism that went unnoticed by law enforcement.
As reported by the UOJ, earlier attempts to seize the church in Strilsk involved violence against women and the elderly, followed by the breaking of the church door.
