Armed people kidnap a Ukrainian Orthodox Church priest in Kyiv region
On March 16, 2022, in the village of Tomashivka, Fastiv district, Kyiv region, unknown armed men kidnapped the cleric of the Kyiv diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Gennady Batenko, the website of the UOC diocese reports.
On Wednesday evening, unknown people broke into the priest's house, forcibly took him out into the yard and took him away in an unknown direction. An appeal to law enforcement officers has not yet yielded any result – the police said they do not have information about Fr. Gennady’s whereabouts.
Archpriest Gennady Batenko, a surgeon by profession, is the Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department of the UOC for Health and Medical and Scientific Work, Dean of the Second Hospital District of Kyiv.
In Tomashivka there is a monastery in honor of the Deposition of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos in Vlaherna, which was formed in 2000 as a skete of the Kyiv Sviato-Vvedensky Monastery of the UOC. Every year, thousands of people from Kyiv head to the monastery in a religious procession with the miraculous Support to the Humble Icon of the Mother of God.
As reported by the UOJ, the abbot of the Dukonsky monastery told the details about the seizure of the shrine.
Read also
Kosovo to enact law restricting Serbian Church, experts say
Analysts warn that the new "Law on Foreigners" in Kosovo could restrict the presence of clergy, believers' access to shrines, and increase pressure on the Serbian community.
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".