“Dad, will they burn us in the temple?”: UOC priests in Zaporozhye bullied by radicals

The media campaign triggered by the scandal in Zaporozhye eparchy of the UOC has provoked threats on the part of radicals toward the clergy and believers despite the fact such actions are not favored by the majority of the population in the region, writes RIA Novosti Ukraina.

Father Yevgeny Molchanov, a priest of the UOC, who refused to perform the burial service for the baby, baptized at the Kyiv Patriarchate, said that the residents of Zaporozhye in the bulk do not support the persecution of the UOC.

"It's more like a radical drift." Brave patriots have nothing to do, but suddenly there crops up such an occasion,” says the priest. "They have no sense in life, but here it is possible to make an enemy out of the Church even more dreadful than Putin. It's one thing if these dolls were brought by ordinary people, but mostly "activists" do it. A layman, man of the street will not participate in these inadequate flash mobs. Now the priests are accused of hate mongering, but it is radicals who are engaged in this, not the priests."

Father Yevgeny Molchanov himself was forced to leave Zaporozhye immediately after the incident, and after returning, he tries to appear less in public.

Despite the fact that the activists temporarily suspended their attacks directly at the temples of the UOC, the Zaporozhye clergy continue to be threatened. The priest of one of the temples, who asked not to mention his name, said that, going to the Christmas service, he said goodbye in his thoughts to his relatives and friends.

"The children asked, "Dad, will we not be burned in the temple? I have a lot of kids - I'd like to help them feel comfortable in their life, to see my daughter get married and give birth to my grandchildren. "But then you do not know how this will end. They keep bullying, they tell me what they will do with my wife and children. It is scary, but at the same time I feel sorry for these radical guys: they do not even understand who stands behind them," he said.

Believers of the UOC in Zaporozhye say that after the events at the church of Peter and Fevronia in the Small Market, they have to be on alert if a stranger comes to the temple for service. It is not always clear whether a person is praying or preparing some kind of provocation.

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol keeps track of the events. According to him, the first priority is to do everything to reduce the degree of confrontation.

Earlier, a clergyman of Zaporozhye eparchy of the UOC Yevgeny Molchanov, who refused to perform the funeral service for the baby baptized with the Kyiv Patriarchate, and who was targeted by the media, told what actually happened.