In Kharkiv region, Azov military personnel set up pagan shrine
The opening of the shrine to Svaroh in the Kharkiv region. Photo: Sicheslavsky's Facebook
In Kharkiv region, servicemen of the 96th separate support battalion of the 3rd Army Corps, formed by former Azov members, opened a pagan shrine of Svaroh.
A representative of the neo-pagan organization "Native Faith" took part in the ritual of opening and consecrating the shrine, performing a rite of invocation to the pagan deity – the so-called "Heavenly Smith" Svaroh. Representatives of the organization expressed special gratitude to the commander of the 96th support battalion, Serhiy Tishchenko, on whose initiative and with whose direct support the arrangement of the pagan shrine became possible.
According to the pagans, the created shrine is intended to become a "place of power" for the military, where they can address pagan deities before being sent on missions.
Historically, the cult of Svaroh and his son Svarozhich among West Slavic tribes was associated with pagan sacrifices. In particular, the medieval chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg recorded that in the West Slavic cult of Svarozhich, captured Christians were sacrificed to idols during wars with the Germans.
Previously, the UOJ reported that "Azov" held a "sacred mystery" for the Day of the Dead.
Read also
In Kharkiv region, Azov military personnel set up pagan shrine
The initiator of the creation and arrangement of a pagan shrine in the Kharkiv region was the commander of the 96th separate battalion of the 3rd Army Corps.
Holy Cross Church of UOC in Kyiv damaged by shelling
The night drone and missile attack on Kyiv on September 27 damaged the shrine in Podil, an architectural monument of the 19th century.
UOC believers celebrate 200th anniversary of Holy Cross Church in Rakhiv
Metropolitan Mark of Khust performed the rite of consecration of the renovated frescoes of the two-hundred-year-old church in Rakhiv.
About thousand pilgrims walk in religious procession to Seltso monastery
In Zakarpattia, believers walked in a religious procession to a monastery for the feast in honor of the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God "Look Upon My Humility."
UOC hierarch leads patronal feast at 170-year-old church in Sarniv
Metropolitan Viсtor presented the rector of the 170-year-old church in Sarniv with a liturgical award and consecrated a new outdoor cross.
UOC Primate: God transformed an instrument of death into a source of life
His Beatitude reminded the faithful that all the sorrows, hardships, and illnesses God permits us to endure constitute a spiritual cross that each person is called to bear with dignity.