Shariy refutes media fake on self-arson of Odessa Monastery

Journalist and video blogger Anatoly Shariy. Photo: Shariy YouTube channel video screenshot

After a 3-hour fire at the Holy Dormition Monastery of the Odessa Eparchy, some media outlets accused the monks of staging an arson. The journalist and video blogger Anatoly Shariy decided to personally look into the situation. He visited the scene and published the video of the interview with diocesan cleric Archdeacon Andrei, who led the stream on the night of the fire, on his YouTube channel.

The clergyman recalled the video about inciting religious hatred, which was released on the YouTube channel of the Odessa Eparchy on April 21. In this video, Archdeacon Andrei thanked Shariy for debunking the fakes that the UOC allegedly violated quarantine en masse and called on its flock to do so.

“After we released this video, a few days later, from 23 to 24 at night, when the worship was being performed, there were 3 fires,” the diocesan cleric noted.

He led the journalist through the monastery and showed a short and low fence through which an unknown person could enter the monastery or throw an incendiary mixture. One of the arson attacks occurred near the garages of the central monastery fleet, where the car was located.

“If one car caught fire, you understand what it is,” he added.

According to the clergyman, it was no accident that within several minutes the arson was committed at different points in the monastery. The brethren of the monastery would not have time to put out all the fires, hence it was more likely that the fire would cause damage. There are trees, pines everywhere, and if fire spread over them, the consequences would have been even more serious.

“The distance between two arsons is 200-300 meters,” said Archdeacon Andrei.

Shariy’s interlocutor also showed a completely burned-out new building, in which the monks planned to make a barn, but for now they kept hay, firewood, and building materials there. The building has an area of about 800 m2, there is a gas pipe next to it is, which could explode if firefighters had failed to cut off the fire from it and from the room with diesel fuel.

It is noteworthy that the local “Odessa Courier” publication stated that in the fire “one of the sheds of the Moscow Patriarchate in Odessa caught fire.”

The above mentioned Odessa edition and blogger “Zloy Odessit” spoke about “putrid smack” and “provocation” and accused the inhabitants of the monastery of allegedly setting fire to their monastery themselves.

In his commentary on the fire in the monastery, “Zloy Odessit” even accused the Church of “successful terrorist act infecting thousands of Ukrainians”.

The above narratives led to the appearance of aggressive rhetoric addressed to the Church and the monks in the comments under the news about the fire in the Holy Assumption Monastery, which were published by Dumskaya TV and Odessky Public.

According to Archdeacon Andrei, earlier it was the rhetoric of some media that could prompt the criminal to commit an act of arson. The priest drew attention to the fact that for some reason such media “turn a blind eye” to the activities of the Church for the benefit of the state and people.

“But why don't you say anything about what the Church has done over the past 6 years? <...> [Only] in 2019 there were distributed 300 tons of food and about UAH 6 million hryvnias among displaced persons, veterans, including ATO veterans, pensioners, poor people, and large families,” said Archdeacon Andrei.

He emphasized that the Holy Assumption Monastery is highly respected, and not only by the residents of Odessa city.

“When the fire occurred – you can’t imagine – telephones were melting, everyone was ringing, everyone was worried, some were crying, some were offering help, others were very indignant, because this is no joke. This Odessa Monastery is very famous,” concluded the clergyman.

In the comment under his own video, Shariy drew the attention of subscribers to the fact that he had been removed from all the YouTube recommendations and the top.

“Also, there is regularly a lack of notifications about the release of new videos. At present, we write it off as technical things on YouTube, which has introduced many innovations in the recent month,” he added.

On the night of April 24, 2020, on the eve of the Feast Day, a fire broke out on the territory of the Holy Assumption Monastery of the UOC in Odessa, which lasted about 3 hours. Representatives of the Odessa Eparchy almost immediately began to stream from the scene in order to avoid distortion of information by some media.

Later, the National Police said there is an indication that an arson attack had been committed in the Odessa Monastery.

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