Photo: «Ukrinform»
The notorious scandal with the alleged seizure by the OCU of the Moscow patriarchate «monastery» in Cherkasy was a russian special operation against the OCU by moscow.
This opinion was expressed by journalists of the Ukrinform National State Agency in a release in which they made a detailed assessment of the situation.
As we know, the hierarchs of the moscow patriarchate stated that on November 20, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine had seized a «monastery in Cherkasy». After a journalistic investigation, it became apparent that there had never been a monastery on the territory of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church. It also became clear that the community of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary had existed there for almost 80 years, which, together with the priest Yosyf Zasansky, left Moscow patriarchate in August 2023 and joined the OCU.
After November 5 (the end of the judicial proceedings), the parish of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church was registered, as the faithful wanted, in the OCU. «The parishioners had everything they needed to legally serve in their church. The documents. The senior priest, Fr Yosyf, who had transferred with the community. Moreover, according to our data, the vicar (i.e., without a see – ed.) bishop Ioan lived in a separate apartment on the territory of the church, with whom, according to our sources, such a transition had been agreed and who is also on the side of the OCU. Therefore, the faithful were ready for the transition to take place peacefully,» the journalists noted.
Nevertheless, the local bishop of moscow patriarchate, Feodosiy, against whom the criminal proceedings have been initiated by Ukrainian law enforcement structures, mobilised his «enforcement forces» and they prevented the believers from entering. However, on November 20, the believers did enter the church, although it was accompanied by a fight, which the police presented only as a conflict, while the hierarchs of the moscow patriarchate presented as a «seizure».
The journalists believe that the situation in Cherkasy is just one of a long line of provocations that Moscow is preparing for Ukraine. «The international events look like a kind of counter-offensive by moscow against the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The scandalous ‘seizure’ of their church by their own believers is just one ‘argument’ for the attackers. Let’s see how this is reflected in a series of events. In the West, Vadim Novinsky, a well-known ex-oligarch and leader of moscow’s church policy in Ukraine, hired the «Amsterdam and Partners» company, which publishes defamatory information about the OCU. Recently, Novinsky’s contract with the company was released, which states that the services of defending the moscow patriarchate (including articles about the viciousness and criminality of the OCU) cost 1400 euros per hour.
No doubt, russian money pays for the tour of the former Fox News journalist Tucker Carlson, who spreads russian narratives in public lectures and has now discovered a new «speciality» – «persecution of the UOC-MP».
The kremlin regime is constantly complaining to the UN about the «oppression of religious freedoms» by «Kyiv regime». Two days before the «exemplary raider seizure», Moscow again convened the UN Security Council, where it spoke about the oppression of russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine».
The journalists assume that the «seizure of the monastery» in Cherkasy was ordered by «moscow comrades» to reinforce, so to say, the effect of complaints to the UN, and ultimately to destroy Ukrainian autocephaly.
