SBU: Brochures about Church unity and sin of schism incite religious enmity

The Security Service of Ukraine

The statement says that the printed materials found during the searches of the clergymen and dedicated to the unity of the Church and the sin of schism have evidence of inciting inter-faith strife, reports the SBU press centre.

"Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine, under the procedural direction of the prosecution authorities, together with the National Police, found evidence of the functioning of an organized distribution network for materials inciting religious strife," the statement said.

Reportedly, during the searches, “a lot of printed materials were seized, the content of which has evidence of inciting religious and interfaith strife.”

Among the seized items, there are 75 copies of the brochure “Ukrainian Orthodox Church: Relations with the State. Attitude towards the ATO and the church schism. Questions and Answers ”, which, as the SBU reports, “has already come to the attention of the Security Council of Ukraine and which already has a corresponding expert opinion ”.

The report states that "qualified experts will also give an assessment to the other materials seized".

As the UOJ reported, law enforcers are conducting mass searches of the UOC clergy. The first such search was conducted by the State Security Service at the abbot of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl. The SBU said that the reason for this was the criminal proceedings initiated “on the fact of a criminal offence, under Part 2 of Art. 161". The book seized during the search was "The Ukrainian Orthodox Church: Relations with the State".

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