What was Cherkasy Cathedral seized for? Concerts?
A concert at the Cherkasy Cathedral. Photo: KozakTv1
Not long ago, this church, where the relics of the Holy Martyr Macarius of Ovruch rest, echoed with prayer, and the number of worshippers was so great that there was hardly room to stand. Now, Ukraine's largest cathedral is almost empty, and attracting people requires spectacles.
Let us recall the slogans under which both the Cherkasy Cathedral and many other churches were seized from the UOC and transferred to the OCU. We were told that these holy sites would finally be freed from “Moscow captivity” and returned to the “true” Ukrainian faithful. That prayers in the "proper" Ukrainian language would replace those in "Russian" Church Slavonic.
There is another important aspect to this situation. When government officials turned the Refectory Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra into a venue for a culinary show, followed by folk songs and dancing, even some members of the OCU admitted it was too much and said so publicly. But back then, they blamed the authorities, who legally own the Lavra.э
However, the Cherkasy Cathedral is a different story. Officials have no ties to this church. It was not "returned to the state" – this was outright raiding: taken from the UOC and handed over to the OCU. Control now lies not with the authorities but with Epifaniy Dumenko’s associates. Yet what’s happening there is no different from what’s occurring in the "state-owned" Lavra or other "returned" shrines.
And as one watches this unfold, a single question lingers: What was it all for? Is this why you staged a smash-up in the Cherkasy Cathedral? Is this why you shot at parishioners, beat the metropolitan, and once again "glorified" Ukraine worldwide?
Even Filaret, with all his eccentricities, never thought of hosting concerts in St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. Perhaps he was stopped by the thought of the relics of the Great Martyr Barbara. The new "owners" of the Cherkasy Cathedral, however, seem not restrained by anything.
Read also
On the seizure of a UGCC сhurch in Tokmak
Statements by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church about “blasphemy” are not the cry of a persecuted Church. They are a textbook example of double standards.
On Budanov's statement regarding UOC
For Yelensky and his the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), Budanov's statement was very untimely.
Why does OCU still celebrate Easter “with Moskals”?
On social media, “patriots” are again asking in exasperation: why are we still celebrating Easter with Moscow? How much longer?
Did Patriarch Bartholomew really mourn Filaret’s death?
Constantinople has never recognized Filaret as a patriarch – not “His Holiness,” not “honorary,” not under any title whatsoever. That alone makes the line in the Ukrainian presidential press service’s report sound astonishingly implausible.
Why did Dumenko sit in Metropolitan Onufriy’s chair?
The head of the OCU has his own residence – and Filaret’s residence as well. But what he needs is the Lavra, Metropolitan Onufriy’s office and chair.
Dumenko came up with a way to fill the Lavra
In fact, the St. Theodosius Monastery has been liquidated, and now "female monasticism" will be developed there.