Our raider–officials should brace themselves?
Anna Paulina Luna. Photo: Politico
Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna said she had received an appeal from the faithful of the Nativity of the Mother of God parish in the village of Kuzmyn, Khmelnytskyi Region – where the authorities, following a well-worn script, intend to seize their home church.
“These illegal seizures must stop. We will be working to document church seizures in Ukraine and bringing Ukrainian officials involved in these illegal seizures to justice,” Luna wrote.
In a comment to UOJ in the United States, Anna Paulina added that officials who organized the “transfer” in Kuzmyn – and across Ukraine – should understand this: Congress is tracking church seizures and compiling a list of public officials implicated in these illegal takeovers. The congresswoman also stressed: “Zelensky has decided to wage war against his own people because of their faith.”
From this, several conclusions follow.
- The informational blockade around crimes against the UOC has been breached. More and more Western politicians are beginning to grasp what is really happening in Ukraine’s church sphere.
- Sadly, we in Ukraine have already grown accustomed to legal lawlessness – a reality in which the authorities and the “approved” confessions can do whatever they please with impunity. Now there is a chance that the “feudal lords” who orchestrated these seizures will finally receive a proper assessment of their actions. We do not yet know what form it will take – sanctions, cases in international courts, or something else – but the process has begun.
- Zelensky’s disgraceful actions against a vast portion of the Ukrainian people are receiving their evaluation in the West. And here it is worth noticing how Luna frames her sentence: “Zelensky has decided to wage war against his own people because of their faith.” Zelensky is set apart – and the people, with their faith, are set apart. This is not accidental.
Someday the Zelensky era will end. And when it does, there will be plenty of claims to answer for. The war against Orthodoxy will be among the chief indictments.
Read also
On the church raid in Odesa
The OCU’s church raids have long been remarkable for their sheer absurdity.
Zelensky's revoked order: What kind of heroes should Ukrainians have?
In recent years, the Ukrainian authorities have sought to present members of the OUN-UPA as heroes for all Ukrainians.
Religious processions banned – gay parades allowed
The authorities “respect rights, freedom, and human dignity” for many: Jews, pop and rock music fans, and now homosexuals. But Orthodox Christians are not among them.
Lavra's Dormition Cathedral and the money
While the construction of the entire cathedral cost approximately $12.5–13 million, more than $11.1 million is now being sought for its restoration. And that is only the “starting” figure.
Strike on the Lavra: what will the consequences be?
No one is saying that a strike on the Lavra, the portion of the Mother of God, is a level of absurdity beyond all limits – that after destroying hundreds of Orthodox churches, the war has now reached the very heart of our Orthodoxy.
Zelensky and the strike on the Lavra: grief for export?
If Russia’s strike on the Dormition Cathedral is, in Zelensky’s words, “barbarism,” then what should we call the Ukrainian authorities’ destruction of UOC churches? Is that not barbarism? Or is that somehow “different”?