State media calls to check pilgrims heading to Pochaiv Lavra

The religious procession to Pochaiv. Photo: UOJ

The state resource Ukrinform appealed to law enforcement with a call to verify the legality of the UOC procession from the Volyn region to the Pochaiv Lavra, reports Ukrinform.

As the publication notes, "Ukrinform has addressed local authorities and law enforcement agencies with a request regarding the legality of holding this mass event and is awaiting a response." At the time of publication, no official response had been received from local authorities or police.

The situation was commented on by Archbishop Iona (Cherepanov) of Obukhiv. "Ukrainian media are worthy followers of Soviet informers. You are on the right track, comrades! Yezhov, Yagoda, and Beria are applauding you from hell," the hierarch wrote on his Facebook, attaching an archival photo from the Soviet era showing a schoolchild recording the names of classmates who had attended church on Pascha.

It should be noted that, despite martial law and the ban on mass gatherings, processions of the UGCC and the RCC continue to take place in Ukraine without hindrance, while Hasidic pilgrims continue to arrive in Uman in their tens of thousands.

As the UOJ reported, the Zbarazh City Council banned the UOC procession through the city's territory, citing security concerns. Similar restrictions by local authorities on mass religious events of the UOC have been recorded previously in various regions of Ukraine, which believers and clergy of the Church have repeatedly described as an attempt to pressure the canonical Church.

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