A scandal erupted in Lviv over the invitation of a UOC hierarch to the opening of a medical center
Representatives of the UGCC and the OCU demanded an investigation into the circumstances of the invitation of a UOC hierarch to the opening of a new building of the medical center.
A major scandal broke out in Lviv over the participation of Metropolitan Filaret of Lviv and Halych in the opening of a new rehabilitation building of the UNBROKEN center. Representatives of the UGCC and the OCU criticized city mayor Andriy Sadovyi for inviting the UOC hierarch, demanding the SBU intervene in the situation.
The visit of the UOC Metropolitan provoked a sharp reaction from UGCC cleric Yustyn Boyko, who called what happened "a triumph of the Moscow Patriarchate in Lviv" and "a public attempt by the city's mayor to personally rehabilitate it." "Andriy Ivanovych, one does not trade in holy things!" — the Uniate priest addressed Sadovyi.
Boyko called on the Security Service of Ukraine to check the Lviv City Council, as the main organizer of the event, "for betrayal of Ukraine's national interests."
He also demanded that city council deputies immediately establish a special commission to investigate all the circumstances surrounding the organization of the ceremony, and proposed that the mayor of Lviv publicly ask forgiveness from the military, chaplains, and the Lviv community for "moral insensitivity."
In an attempt to justify himself before the radical public, Andriy Sadovyi claimed that he had allegedly not invited the UOC representative, had not approved the guest lists, and called the situation itself "a very bad story."
In response, Yustyn Boyko accused the mayor of hypocrisy and reminded him of his own words spoken in June 2018: "When there is some problem in the city — I am to blame. The mayor is responsible for everything." "Therefore, today one cannot simultaneously say: 'The mayor is responsible for everything' — and immediately add: 'I did not invite anyone, I did not approve anything,'" the UGCC representative emphasized.
The accusations were joined by the "rector" of the Cathedral of St. George the Victorious in Lviv — seized from the UOC — and concurrently a deputy of the Lviv Regional Council, Mykola Bilyak. He expressed "pain, indignation, and incomprehension" at the decision to invite a UOC hierarch to the new rehabilitation center where wounded Ukrainian servicemen will recover.
Bilyak reproached the city authorities for double standards, expressing outrage: "They returned to the community what rightfully belonged to it, and then thanked the one who had been using it for years." The OCU cleric believes that instead of a UOC representative, military chaplains who have been alongside the defenders in dugouts and hospitals since the first days of the war should have been present at the clinic's opening.
In Bilyak's view, the people of Lviv have every right to ask uncomfortable questions, and witnessing such inconsistency is particularly painful, since "Lviv has always been a stronghold of the Ukrainian spirit." Bilyak summed up his position with the thesis "Ukraine above all."
The head of the Lviv Regional Council, Yuriy Kholod, also hastened to distance himself from the incident. In response to Boyko's public address, the official wrote that Metropolitan Filaret's appearance at the opening of the building came as "a great surprise" to him personally.
The opening of the building was attended by Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi, representatives of the regional administration, members of parliament, as well as the mayor of the German city of Freiburg. As the UOJ reported, Andriy Sadovyi personally opened the event and expressed gratitude to Metropolitan Filaret for his "significant contribution to the Lviv community."
