Anti-church activists: foolhardiness and folly
Bolsheviks nationalize church property. Photo: open sources
The Commercial Court of Ternopil Oblast has ruled to transfer the churches and monastic cells of the Epiphany Monastery in Kremenets to the state. The judge’s signature has, in effect, sanctioned the destruction of a monastic community where nuns had been praying for Ukraine, for Ukrainians, and for peace upon our land. Now those prayers will cease. Liturgies will stop, parishioners will no longer be able to confess or receive Communion.
Will life in the country become better, more beautiful, or more prosperous? No, it will not.
But that’s not the point here.
On September 5, 2024, during the inventorying of the Epiphany Monastery’s property, Natalia Kalenikova – head of the Department for the Protection, Operation, and Restoration of Monuments of the Kremenets-Pochaiv State Historic Reserve – suddenly collapsed and died. She was just 42 years old.
On April 8, 2023, during the seizure of the Nativity of the Theotokos Church of the UOC in Lypovets, Kyiv Oblast, an OCU activist, Ivan Semtsov, suddenly collapsed and died. His death came just after he tore a cross off a priest and threw it to the ground.
On August 20, 2023, just hours after a campaign to “transfer” the Nativity of the Theotokos Church in Dovzhok, an OCU activist drowned. She had suffered a pulmonary embolism.
These are only a few recorded cases of people who set themselves against the Church and died. Soviet archives preserve many similar examples – Komsomol members and Communist officials who blew up Orthodox churches and destroyed icons often met similarly tragic ends.
We are not trying to frighten anyone. God does not take revenge. He loves those anti-church activists who perished no less than He loves the saints. But at the same time, the Holy Scriptures say very plainly: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
Of course, one can brush this all off as priestly tales and say that the deaths of anti-church activists are pure coincidence. But every person who chooses to go against the Church should ask themselves a very simple question:
What if it’s not a coincidence?
Then what?
Is the cost of testing that question not too high?
Read also
From sanctuary to storage: how seized UOC churches are being repurposed
In Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, members of the OCU are reportedly using the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands – seized from the UOC – as a storage site for clothing.
Why can a thief who stole from AFU walk out of SIZO, while Vladyka Arseniy cannot?
A man who stole food from soldiers in wartime is allowed the privilege of freedom, while a hierarch who fed hundreds of destitute refugees in the Lavra is denied even the possibility.
“There are no people persecuted for their religious beliefs in the USSR”
One of the most disgraceful phenomena in the life of Ukraine’s present-day religious community is its complicity in justifying the crackdown on the UOC.
Why people heroize those who beat TRC
Why does the head of the UGCC publicly call for war until victory, while quietly hiding draft-dodging workers in temples? Why do OCU bloggers delete posts supporting the TRC due to massive hate?
On the long-awaited statements by Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Usyk has declared that he is ready to become president. The only question is – whom does he now see as his voters?
Two weeks of OCU’s “brotherhood” talk to UOC: Any fruits yet?
So this is what the OCU’s “dialogue” looks like. One hand signs “appeals” about brotherhood – the other blesses people with angle grinders.