Russian occupation authorities have arrested and imprisoned two Greek Catholic priests in southern Ukraine’s Berdyansk, a Byzantine Rite church affiliated with Rome since the 16th century. Fathers Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Heleta are suspected.subversive and guerrilla activities“, As well as “presence of suspected explosives“, the Exarchate of Donetsk told. “These priests carried out their statutory activities in the local parish community (Surb Astsvatsatsin Church, ed.) for more than three years.“, the press release states, and remained despite the invasion.
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According to the data of the Exarchate.no comments or complaintshad not been given since the occupation andall their activities did not go beyond the scope of their pastoral functions and were the subject of detailed reports by themselves to the Church authorities.“. “This arrest follows a search by Ukrainians of the Lavra, a monastic cave attached to the Moscow Patriarchate.“, adds Pascal Gollnish, director of work in the East. The Patriarchate openly supports “special military operationby Vladimir Putin, going so far as to ensure “God putthe head of the ruling Kremlin.
The intelligence services of Ukraine inspected the monastery and carried out “Control of people present in the territory of the Lavra“doubting”their involvement in illegal activities“, particularly support for the Russian army. In Berdiansk, which is under Russian occupation, the army arrested the chairman of the council of the German Protestant community already in April.
For Bishop Golnish, these arrests represent “the issue of religious freedoms and religious communities that are not subject to the authority of Vladimir Putin and the Moscow Patriarch. Because they can ask questions or criticize Russian aggression“. The Greek Catholic Church, which represented almost 8% of Ukraine’s population, was destroyed and forcibly annexed to Orthodoxy by Stalin. “Since leaving the persecution, he has experienced great dynamism and some intellectual prestige thanks to the University of Lviv. It did not compromise with Communism, which was not always the case with some Orthodox. Its main archbishop is young and does not go to war, unlike the patriarch of Moscow, even if he called on Ukraine to defend his country.Bishop Golnish concludes.
Source: Le Figaro
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