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
Can a Christian betray?
A court case is now underway against Yulia Tymoshenko. She is accused of buying members of parliament’s votes when decisions and laws were adopted in the Verkhovna Rada.
Remember this, Ukrainian – all your troubles are blamed on Orthodox schools
Our media have long been engaged in loud incitement of hatred toward people who harm no one at all. And, strangely enough, this always seems to coincide with scandals around thieves in high offices.
Should the law banning the UOC be repealed?
It turns out that MPs from Batkivshchyna were taking money for “the right” votes. Could the vote for the law banning the UOC also have been “bought”?
Our raider–officials should brace themselves?
Someday the Zelensky era will end. And when it does, there will be plenty of claims to answer for. The war against Orthodoxy will be among the chief indictments.
State and Churches: For Catholics – restitution; for Orthodox – confiscation
Shouldn’t DESS be campaigning for the Kyiv Caves Lavra to be returned to the Church after the Bolsheviks expelled the monks a hundred years ago and turned it into a “museum complex”?
Why the idea of a "national Church" is doomed
According to the most optimistic estimates, the population of Ukraine is now no more than 19 million. The figure is shocking, especially when you remember that at the beginning of independence, 52 million people lived in the country.