"Separatist" books and cigarette ash in Ptichya: new fakes of schismatics
In Ptichya, schismatics blamed UOC believers for the garbage, cigarette ash left in the temple and disrespect for the shrine, set up by Filaret’s followers themselves.
For ordinary Ukrainians, the methods by which modern journalists make news, distorting it at their own discretion and adjusting it to the editorial policy of their own channels, newspapers and editions, have long been no secret. Now, only an experienced and thoughtful reader can see the real course of events in the media. We’ll try to show on a specific example how some dishonest journalists manipulate the citizens' consciousness.
A few days ago, "patriotic" and some religious resources reproduced the material about the opening of the church sealed by the court in the village of Ptichya. The temple was opened only for a while, for the burial service of the deceased ATO soldier. Describing in an exceptionally black tone the "terrible state" of the temple left by the UOC believers, the author of the material appeals to law enforcement agencies, especially emphasizing that the people who stayed on in the Holy Assumption Church were studying Russian literature.
"Most of the books and pamphlets are printed in St. Petersburg and Moscow. It is this fact that drew our attention," says Alina Dubovskaya, a local activist of the Kiev Patriarchate. "These books were definitely read, with the covers rubbed, the corners bent, and all of them in fatty spots. I have many questions for the authorities: why did it all happen to be in the temple? Who and for what purpose slipped this to the common villagers?"
So that the reader does not doubt that the believers of Ptichye have allowed themselves "anti-state" actions, the author publishes a photo of the covers, "forgetting" to show the year of publication of the books found in the Holy Assumption Church.
Protopriest Nikolai Sisoniuk, the rector of the church, clearly knows what literature is referred to and gives an exhaustive answer to the reproaches of his former parishioner.
"We had a church library for a long time at the church, and Alina cannot but know it," Father Nikolai says. "I always tried to enrich it with new books, people enjoyed reading. Only all the books found are more than ten years, they were published in the late 90's – early 2000's when there was no military conflict in the East."
As we see, the manipulation of the trend concepts "separatists and separatist literature" is at its best. Let’s go ahead ...
The following comment by Alina Dubovskaya is about the awful state of the church at the time of the unsealing:
"As soon as we received permission, we immediately went into the church. The temple was in a very bad condition, there were traces of mouse life, cobwebs, mould and cigarette ash everywhere."
It is very easy to track the author's frank use of manipulation and even lie, trying to blacken believers of the UOC. For this, it is only necessary to recall – the representatives of which religious community were the last in the long-suffering Ptichya church? The answer, in fact, lies on the surface, and the journalists of religious editions who were actively publishing materials concerning the interfaith conflict in Ptichya could not have been unaware of this.
And the truth is that on Monday of the Holy Week of 2018 the church in the village of Ptichya was seized by supporters of the Kiev Patriarchate. They themselves broadcast live on the Facebook social network how they cut off the locks and entered the temple. Later, it was also echoed in the TSN report. Then, after pushing out and beating the women believers of the UOC, the schismatics occupied the church and barricaded themselves in it.
"Since that day and for two weeks in a row, men, supporters of the Kiev Patriarchate have stayed on in the church," says Maria Furmanets, a believer of the UOC. "I called 102, reported their presence in a sealed temple, said that I could even name those who were inside, but the police did not take any action, making me understand that this was no business of mine."
According to the villagers, the police withdrew the schismatics closed inside the church the night after Antipascha Sunday. This happened after one of the law enforcers had seen clouds of cigarette smoke through a broken window.
Therefore, you do not need to be a detective to find out – representatives of what religious community ashed their cigarettes in the church and made a mess, leaving partially emptied glasses and the remains of food.
The fact that the believers of the UOC kept order while staying in the church is evidenced not only by publications in the press but also by the schismatics themselves. In particular, Stepan Mikhalchuk, a supporter of the Kiev Patriarchate, shared his impressions after visiting the religious building: "How clean it is in the temple, one cannot even believe that it has been closed for so long."
"What a pity that people living next to each other, who used to visit each other, have now become enemies," said Protopriest Gregory Stadnik, the rector of the church in Ptichya. "By my reckoning, this will continue until the authorities of all levels are interested in this enmity, because it is with their consent that materials of dubious content are now published in the press, with their consent the Psalter and the Book of Akathists are thrown to the ground (last week, supporters of the UOC KP threw away personal belongings of the UOC believers, including the Psalter and the Book of Akathists), with their consent, we, full owners of the Holy Assumption Church, still have to conduct Divine services in adapted premises."
In conclusion, I do not want to teach anyone, telling the abused rules of journalistic ethics. Someday, a religious conflict in Ptichya will end, people will make it up, be friends again and go to each other on a visit. But those who incited enmity and hatred, who deliberately lied, playing off neighbours and relatives against each other, are unlikely to be forgotten. Do authors and distributors of such fakes want to go down in history in such unenviable capacity? Only they can answer.
