Police in Dnipro release arsonist who targeted UOC church

Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quick-to-Hear” (Skoroposlushnytsia) in Dnipro. Photo: Facebook / Fr Heorhii Skubak

On 22 May 2025 an attempt was made to set fire to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) temple dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God “Quick-to-Hear” in Dnipro. Writing on his Facebook page, the parish cleric, Archpriest Heorhii Skubak, reported that traces of the failed arson were discovered early that morning, just before the festive Divine Liturgy.

“When we arrived for the Liturgy, we immediately noticed the absence of the notice boards – they had simply been torn down and broken. Entering the grounds, we saw an unedifying scene on the church porch: a bottle that had contained motor oil, a charred wick, and splatters of the oil spread around… Outside the fence we also found matches, the bottle cap, and oil stains. Call it hooliganism? No – this was a one-hundred-percent arson attempt! Thanks be to God no one and nothing was harmed,” the priest wrote.

Parishioners telephoned the police to report the attempt.

“By God’s mercy we served the Liturgy in the church, not amid ashes, as could have been the case,” Fr Heorhii added, expressing his conviction that the church’s preservation was “the saving right hand of our merciful Lord, the protection of the Mother of God, and the wondrous help of Saint Nicholas, granted through the prayers of our parishioners!”

That same day, thanks to the vigilance of the faithful and the coordinated work of district police officers, the arsonist was identified and detained. Shortly thereafter, however, a court released him on his own recognisance.

“Later I was told, ‘We talked to him and explained that he mustn’t do such things…,’” the priest noted, adding that as he finished writing his post he received a phone call from the church informing him that the same “well-meaning arsonist” had returned and threatened to see his “little job” through to the end.

As the UOJ previously reported, the UOC church in the village of Khaliavyn, Chernihiv Region, was recently restored after an arson attack.

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