How did Christ and the Apostle Paul describe OCU's adept Hryshchuk?
Roman Hryshchuk, hooded, during the church raid in Verkhni Stanivtsi. Photo: UOJ
He admits they came under cover of darkness – because the UOC faithful are present during the day. In his own words, he wanted to avoid creating footage that could be used by Russian media, portraying “OCU raiders crucifying Russian-speaking girls.” That was his idea of a joke.
But when one recalls the image of a young UOC woman, her face bloodied – struck with a stick, whether by Hryshchuk himself or one of his “brother priests” – the humor vanishes. It becomes something else entirely: a chilling symbol of sacrilege.
“Our community,” Hryshchuk said, “in order to avoid media provocations, is forced to act outside working hours, and in secret.”
Let those words settle: outside working hours… in secret. They echo something far more ancient – and far more ominous.
Do they not call to mind the words of Christ Himself, who spoke of those who “do not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climb in by another way”? Or the solemn warning of the Apostle Paul, who described those who come “like a thief in the night”?
Scripture names such people plainly.
A thief. A robber.
What better words could describe the one who calls himself a priest, yet comes cloaked in night, wielding violence, and desecrating what is holy?
This is not just a matter of broken doors and shattered peace. It is a question of truth – and the name by which such deeds are known before God.
Read also
Persecution of UOC and liquidation of UGCC in 1946: Are there parallels?
After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the liberation of Western Ukraine, the leadership of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) initiated negotiations with Soviet authorities concerning the future of its ecclesiastical structure.
On the mobilization of a priest as a sniper
A man who has chosen the path of the priesthood has no right to join the army and take up a weapon. And the very idea of killing another human being is all the more absurd.
On statistics: how many Orthodox, Muslims and Jews we have
Trust in the Razumkov Center's research methods on the topic of Orthodoxy is minimal.
Why helping children with cancer is a threat to state security
We should have long got used to the antics of some MPs, especially those who furiously hate the UOC. But they don't stop surprising us.
Is Ramadan closer to the authorities than Great Lent?
Have Muslims and Jews – who together make up just over one percent of the country’s population – become a privileged class? And yet Ukraine is widely seen as a Christian country.
Prayer for Zelensky
If Dumenko composes a “prayer” for a visit to parliament in which the president, the Rada, and the government are each listed separately, we understand that these words are addressed not to God, but to the people who invited him into the Rada.