RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Another church-burning in Kiev

VANDALS COMMIT ARSON AT UPTs CHURCH IN CAPITAL

Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 25 April 2016

 

In the night of 23-24 April, unidentified persons committed arson to a Kiev UPTs church consecrated to Saint Agapit of the Caves, located in Pushkin Park of the city. This was reported by the Information and Education Department of the UPTs, citing the rector of the church, Archpriest Valentin Makarov.

 

"At 3.30 a.m. the camera recorded three persons approaching the church building. The intruders sprinkled the walls with a combustible substance and then tossed a burning paper. At first the fire burned strongly but then was quenched in thirty seconds," the rector of the church explained.

 

"God's mercy was evident," the UPTs cleric notes. "The church did not suffer serious damage."  The siding of the building and an icon, which hangs on the external side of the church walls, were damaged.

 

Archpriest Valentin said that the act of vandalism was apparently committed by students. "The camera shows that these thin, young people were most likely students," he said.

 

In the morning, police were called, who identified the arson. The rector does not harbor much hope that the arsonists will be found. "After all, this is not the first incident in Kiev. About five churches have already been set on fire," the priest observed.

 

After the incident, the parish of the church decided to simply take additional measures for security. "We have strengthened security, by technological equipment and people," Archpriest Valentin declares. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 April 2016)

 

ATTEMPT TO BURN DOWN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN KIEV

Interfax-Religiia, 25 April 2016

 

Unidentified persons made an attempt to set fire to a wooden church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Pushkin Park of Kiev.

 

According to the rector of the church, Archpriest Valentin Makarov, the incident occurred Sunday night. At first the flames were strong, but very quickly they went out. The siding of the building and an icon, which hangs on the external side of the church walls, were damaged, the website of the Ukrainian Union of Orthodox Journalists reports on Monday.

 

"The church building was treated last fall with an fire-prevention substance because we had expected and foresaw this. The situation around Kiev is such that every wooden church is in danger; it is vulnerable and sooner or later our 'well-wishers' will get around to it," the priest explained.

 

He said this is the general trend in Ukrainian society, "which for two years now has been fed televised hatred and this poison, which is being injected profusely from television screens." (tr. by PDS, posted 25 April 2016)


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