OCU "priest" explains why soldiers were convinced to fire at UOC church

Ruins of the Annunciation Church of the UOC. Photo: Bahmut in UA

Serhiy Dmytriev, Deputy Head of the OCU's Social Services and Charity Department, stated in an interview with Livyi Bereh that the reluctance to fire on an Orthodox church is merely a "prejudice." He also described how one of the "priests" of their structure persuaded soldiers to fire at the church.

According to Dmytriev, during the 30th Brigade's liberation of Kharkiv region, Russian forces took up position in an Orthodox church (apparently a UOC church, as noted by the editorial team).

"The mortar battery didn’t want to fire at the church. Then the chaplain, the priest, said that if Ukrainians were being killed from this church, it was no longer a church, just a building. The church is the people. And so, we advanced. By the way, it wasn’t an architectural monument; it was a new structure. What’s important is that this was said by the priest, because the soldiers wouldn’t listen to their commander," Dmytriev explained.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Serhiy Dmytriev remained silent regarding a journalist's blasphemous remarks about Holy Communion.

Read also

Congress Speaker: Demand to introduce Sharia law in USA is a serious problem

The Speaker of the House of Representatives stated that there is growing concern in society about attempts to impose Islamic law, which is incompatible with the American Constitution.

UK government introduces restrictions on "anti-Muslim hostility"

UK authorities have adopted a new definition of "Islamophobia" which, according to experts, could provide Muslims with special protection and restrict freedom of speech.

Dumenko brings icon in Church Slavonic to Ministry of Health

Epifaniy presented cardiologists with an Intercession icon, with inscriptions in Church Slavonic, which his structure calls a "sign of the Moscow tradition".

ISIS supporters carries out terrorist attack at anti-Islamic protest in NY

Near the home of New York's Muslim mayor, radicals threw two makeshift bombs at protesters during an anti-Islamic rally.

Hryshchuk: If UOC hands over its church itself, angle grinders aren't needed

An OCU chaplain called on UOC believers to accept the loss of the shrine for the sake of their own "enlightenment".

18th-century gates of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra presented in London

State art historians have identified masterpieces by Kyiv goldsmiths in London.