Kiev raids Orthodox churches with Russia ties

UKR A INI A N aut hor it ies on Monday raided three Orthodox churches a ligned to Russia as politica l and religious tension s bet ween t he t wo countries grow.

Authorities also searched the homes of priests who have declared their allegiance to the Russian branch of the Orthodox church, said regional police spokeswoman Alla Vashchenko.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was recently granted independence from Moscow in a controversial ruling that prompted cheers from Kiev.

The neighbours have also clashed in recent days after Russia seized Ukrainian ships and sailors in the countries’ first open military confrontation since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The raids on churches in northern Ukraine were part of a probe into the possible violation of a law on equality of religious belief, the spokeswoman said without providing details of the investigation.

“Nobody has been arrested,” Vashchenko added.

But Archbishop Kliment Vecherya, a spokesman for the Russian-aligned Ukrainian church, compared the raids to the crackdown on religious freedoms during the early Soviet period.

“Something similar happened almost one hundred years ago during the time of the tyrant Stalin, when priests and bishops were hauled in for questioning,” he said.

Metropolitan Vissarion, an official from the Moscowaligned Orthodox Church in the Zhytomyr region, said that officers “were ordered to seize everything to do with our church” in Monday’s raids.

The raids came three days after authorities searched the residence of another Moscowaligned church official, Metropolitan Pavlo, who oversees a major Kiev monastery.

The Orthodox church in Ukraine is divided between two main branches, one of which pledges loyalty to Moscow and one overseen by the Kiev-based Patriarch Filaret that Moscow does not recognise.

In a historic decision in October, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, considered the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians worldwide, agreed to recognise the Ukrainian Church’s independence from Moscow.

The decision was a huge blow to Moscow’s spiritual authority in the Orthodox world.

T h e R u s s i a n C h u r c h a nnounced it wou ld brea k ties wit h t he Constantinople Patria rchate in protest.

The Russi a n Or thodox Church has repeatedly voiced fears that Ukraine will use legal moves or even force to take control of the churches and monasteries under its control.

Some priests have told their parishioners to be ready to defend them.