Ukraine's General Procuracy reports suspicion against four ROC bishops

Publication on the website of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General's Office. Photo: Prosecutor General's Office website

The Office of the Prosecutor General announced suspicions against four hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), according to the Prosecutor General’s Office website.

"Russian metropolitans have been informed of suspicions of complicity in encroachments on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine (Part 5, Article 27; Part 3, Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," the statement reads.

The Prosecutor General's Office alleges that the hierarchs, during 2022–2023, "facilitated the seizure of property of Ukrainian churches in the temporarily occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Kherson regions, as well as in Crimea."

"Implementing the Russian Synod’s decision to 'integrate' Ukrainian religious communities into the ROC, they seized church buildings and land of the dioceses of Dzhankoy, Berdiansk, Rovenky, and Kherson. The suspects appointed bishops loyal to them in these regions. They imposed Kremlin narratives on believers, blessed Russia's war against Ukraine, and justified the crimes of the occupiers," the statement claims.

The SBU identified the suspects as Metropolitan Dionysius of Omsk and Tauride, Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, and Metropolitan Paul of Krutitsy and Kolomna.

As previously reported by the UOJ, UOC hierarchs condemned the actions of the ROC in Russian-occupied territories.

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