“Where are SBU and intelligence?” Uniates of Zolochiv oppose UOC temple

Representatives of the UGCC oppose the construction of the UOC temple. Photo: YouTube

On July 8, 2020, priests of the UGCC and public activists of Zolochiv protested against the construction of the temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the city, the website Dyvys.Info reports.

The UGCC priest Mikhail Sumanovsky stated that he was approached by “public figures and parishioners who raised funds for our military. We know an attitude to the particular church (UOC – Ed.) in our locality. Therefore, as a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, I’m concerned about the matter and I cannot ignore the appeal of my parishioners. Our guys are there, in the east, alongside our priests. And here we are, in the rear, being unable to defend the betrayal of our interests by the church, which does not bury our children."

The representative of the UGCC recalled that the UOC "does not have permission for military chaplaincy". That is why he wonders: “Does our intelligence and SBU have any information about it? What if someone will come here to seek information about our military units?”

“Churches can be set up anywhere and a lot. The main thing is that people pray. But in this case it is no longer about the church but about national interests. We ask all agencies – the police, the Prosecutor's Office, the SBU – to give an answer: who is the owner and who solicited support in this process? Because the question arises whether local authorities back this. This is a question not only from Greek Catholics, but also from Orthodox priests (OCU – Ed.),” the Uniate priest emphasized.

The deputy of the Regional Council Miroslava Babinskaya stated that “We know what the Moscow Patriarchate entails. They are haters of the Ukrainian people and of any other Churches in general. It is likely that in this way they want to cause splits in Ukraine and do other illegal things. This is our first warning peaceful action.”

In her opinion, they will build not a temple but only premises for sabotage: “For me, the Moscow Patriarchate is Russia and Putin. And this is all the same – the enemy and the war. Now is the seventh year of the war, and they are brazenly advancing towards us, into Western Ukraine. They find loopholes in the legislation and it is not known who and what will be behind this high fence. If we turn a blind eye to that, we will have a stronghold of the Russian world here by our side.”

The deputy is sure that "this Church (UOC – Ed.) glorifies Putin and blesses weapons, as well as kills our Ukrainian defenders."

In her opinion, in Zolochiv “not a temple is being built, but a military unit of the FSB. And given that we have military units in the region that may be of interest to Moscow’s enemies, all sorts of sabotage are possible in the future. If the government and society do not raise their voice, we will have a Moscow church here. We will find out who these people are and for what purpose they are here ... I am ready to deal with all this within the law.”

However, the municipal authorities of Zolochiv have no idea about the construction of the temple. According to Mayor Igor Grinkov, a residential building is located in Trush Street, registered by a 20-year-old resident of Pochayiv: “In 2019, a resident of Ternopil region, Pochayiv city, purchased a part of the house with a land plot, made a construction pass for reconstruction with an extension of the manor type residential building. She received permission from relevant authorities to begin this construction. The city architect saw these documents and the development plan. He suggested that this house looks like a future temple."

The mayor assured that the deputies of the city council will never give permission to build the UOC church.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Yuri Chernomorets, theologian of the OCU, opposed the construction of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the UOC in Kyiv because of the architecture that reminds him of "Mother Russia".

Read also

Ukrainian MPs urge Trump to stop persecution of the UOC

Oleksandr Dubinsky and Artem Dmytruk have appealed to the U.S. President to include the release of political prisoners as a condition of any peace agreement.