Metropolitan of Cherkasy on monastery seizure: We involve foreign lawyers
Metropolitan Feodosiy, head of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC. Photo: a video screenshot of the YouTube channel "Cherkasy Blahovisnik"
The forceful seizure of the monastery of the UOC in the Cherkasy centre will be assessed by the international community, this is already being handled by authoritative foreign lawyers, said in a comment to the Telegram channel "Dozor on Kozak1" the head of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC Metropolitan Feodosiy, who has the status of UN human rights defender.
"A brazen, insolent, bloody crime against the UOC believers in the very centre of Cherkasy cannot be left unattended," the bishop said. “The fact that law enforcers who were nearby did not react to it does not mean that the public will not react, and if not the Ukrainian, then the international community, seeing the crimes that are committed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, will certainly give them their assessment."
Metropolitan Feodosiy reported that in recent weeks there has been active formation of an international human rights association called "Church against Xenophobia and Religious Discrimination", and authoritative hierarchs from the UOC and other Local Churches have already joined it. Within this association, a project for emergency response to violent crimes is being developed, and its first step will be to bring information about the attack on the Cherkasy monastery to the international level.
"We are involving international lawyers, and today (November 20th – Ed.), I have already had a series of discussions on this issue with international human rights activists. Our Ukrainian lawyers at the national level are already documenting evidence of today's violence, working on complaints from the victims. We will undoubtedly seek international assistance. As part of the emergency procedures for international response, a media campaign abroad will be conducted, dedicated to violence against Ukrainian citizens – the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – so that in the future, no one dares to evict elderly nuns from their cells and beat priests in liturgical attire," emphasized Met. Feodosiy.
He added that the results of medical examinations of the victims who were beaten by the radicals during the seizure of the monastery would be attached to the lawsuits to Ukrainian courts and appeals to international instances.
As earlier reported, MP Artem Dmytruk said that the Ukrainian authorities would not be able to hide from the international community the crimes committed during the seizure of the UOC monastery in Cherkasy.
Read also
18th-century gates of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra presented in London
State art historians have identified masterpieces by Kyiv goldsmiths in London.
In mosque, OCU "bishop" and DESS experts dine at iftar during Ramadan
At an iftar in Kyiv, authors of expert assessments against the UOC were awarded Islamic orders in the presence of the deputy head of DESS and a "hierarch" of Dumenko's structure.
Shevchuk tells Budanov of UGCC’s “state-building role”
The head of the Uniates told the head of the Presidential Office that his Church was ready to partner with the state and presented him with a book on the work of special services in the Church.
Authorities decline to disclose Ukraine’s population size
The State Statistics Service acknowledged that it has up-to-date population estimates for the country, but has decided not to make them public.
Lithuanian govt vows to protect Orthodox Church from Russian intelligence
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry has called for curbing the influence of Russian intelligence services on the Church, while an adviser to President Nausėda warned against labeling the entire structure a security threat.
During Ramadan, Patriarch Theodoros hosts Islamic iftar at his residence
Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria hosted a meal for Muslim workers breaking their fast in the courtyard of the Patriarchate and thanked a sheikh for his “brotherhood.”