Who terrifies the authorities more: A murderous shepherd or a righteous one?
Metropolitan Arseniy in an ambulance. Photo: Sviatohirsk Lavra
On November 3, the Dnipro court once again returned Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk to the pre-trial detention center. According to the statement of the Prosecutor General’s Office, it was “for crimes against peace.” More precisely – for a “wrong” sermon.
The hierarch was thrown behind bars without the right to bail, despite having already spent a year and a half in prison for nothing. Despite suffering from serious health problems – on the very day of the hearing, an ambulance had to take him to the hospital.
That same day, November 3, in Truskavets, a Uniate (UGCC) priest, Volodymyr Luzhetsky, killed a man in a drunk-driving accident. Like Metropolitan Arseniy, Luzhetsky was placed in pre-trial detention. But there is a nuance – he can walk free as soon as he pays bail: 242,000 hryvnias.
And so what do we have?
A clergyman of one confession, who during deadly shelling never abandoned the Lavra and cared for hundreds of refugees, sits behind bars under absurd accusations. He has been prescribed urgent heart surgery – but he cannot leave the detention center.
A clergyman of another confession has killed a man – yet he can walk free at any moment for six thousand dollars.
We by no means wish Luzhetsky harm; prison is always a terrible thing.
But the contrast in how the authorities treat them is simply too striking to ignore.
Read also
The UGCC “сan survive persecution” – unless it happens to someone else
The current situation surrounding the UOC is no different from what the Uniates themselves experienced after the Lviv Council.
Was a UOC сhurch in Ivano-Frankivsk demolished for the sake of a park?
The authorities in Ivano-Frankivsk have decided to create a park on the vacant lot at 6 Chornovola Street. On the surface, the decision looks utterly routine. In reality, it says a great deal.
The devolution of Metropolitan Simeon
According to Shostatsky, “we know that where the majority is, there is the truth – not where the minority is.”
On how the OCU scorns its own rent-a-crowd
According to Zoria, the OCU looks down on staged crowds – for them, “what matters is truth, not the number” of parishioners. And yet, for every one of Epifaniy Dumenko’s traveling services, people are bused in by the coachload.
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.