Rector: Destroyers of UOC temple in Lviv justify themselves before Europe

Dismantling of the UOC Church in Lviv. Photo: screenshot of the video on the Telegram channel of the head of the Lviv RMA M. Kozytskyy

The people who demolished the St. Vladimir Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Lviv are trying to justify themselves in order to whitewash their crime and save the image of Ukraine as a “European” and “civilized” state. This was stated by the rector of the temple, Archpriest Volodymyr Kuzio, commenting on the false statements of OCU supporters to foreign media.

In particular, the opponents of the UOC are trying to present what happened as “dismantling of the old non-residential premises” near the real church (the OCU temple is located nearby) or report that the footage of the destruction of the church was filmed in Russia.

“The thief has a burning hat. They demolished the church, and now they have to make excuses,” the priest said. “They are trying to somehow whitewash their sin and say that everything was not like that at all, because Ukraine is a ‘European’ and ‘civilized’ state. In ‘enlightened Europe’ they break down the church and say that nothing has happened, everything is fine, this is a ‘squatter construction’."

The priest said that the temple was built on legal grounds: the UOC community received a land plot by decision of the City Council in 1991. The neighboring temple, which is now used by the OCU, was also built by believers of the canonical Church. There is also a court decision that this temple belongs to the UOC, but it is not implemented.

According to Fr. Volodymyr, before the dismantling of the church, representatives of the local authorities cut down the cross that stood nearby with a chainsaw and appropriated church property – embroidered icons, an iconostasis, a throne, an altar, tables, lecterns, as well as solar panels that were on the roof of the temple, and powerful batteries.

“No one is going to return anything, no one even wants to talk to us. How can this be? Do we have a rule of law? The city council cannot dispose of the property of a religious community, this is against the law. If we are a democratic society, we must respect the rights of believers. We are told that we are going to Europe. To which Europe? With what? We will not be accepted into any Europe,” the priest emphasized.

As the UOJ reported, the head of the Lviv diocese, Metropolitan Filaret, said that the community of St. Vladimir's Church was harassed, the temple was tried several times to be demolished and set on fire twice.

Earlier, a full video of the destruction of the temple by an excavator appeared on the Web.

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