Media recall last patronal feast of Lviv church before its destruction

The 2022 patronal feast at St. Prince Volodymyr's Church in Lviv. Photo: UOJ

A video recording of the last patronal feast of St. Volodymyr's Church of the UOC in Lviv has been published online. The Telegram channel "Pershyi Kozatskyi" published footage of 2022 showing the life of the community just a few months before the city authorities demolished the shrine with an excavator.

The authors of the publication noted "a special dark symbolism" in the destruction of the church dedicated to the Baptizer of Rus' by authorities who declare "spiritual independence." The video captures the prayer of Orthodox residents of Lviv, who were later deprived of their house of God.

On that feast day, July 28, 2022, the rector of the community, Archpriest Volodymyr Kuzio, called on the President to stop church raiding. "Officials claim we do not exist, but we do," the priest emphasized, pointing to the illegality of the previously issued order on the "transfer" of the parish to the OCU.

Eight months later, the Lviv City Administration, with the support of OCU representatives, demolished St. Volodymyr's Church with an excavator. While construction equipment was turning the church into a pile of rubble, police maintained order and blocked access to the site. The head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, who published a video of the demolition, called the destruction of the shrine the elimination of the "last outpost" of the UOC in the city.

To date, three UOC churches have been demolished by Ukrainian authorities: the Transfiguration Church in Ivano-Frankivsk, St. Volodymyr's Church in Lviv, and the Tithe Church in Kyiv.

As the UOJ reported, media showed how the UOC celebrated the Day of the Baptism of Rus'.

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