Ukrainian Protestants and others under attack by Moscow Patriarch followers in east

2015/3/30 11:18:14

The Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine is not only an attack on Ukraine’s sovereign territory, it is also a blatant attack on Protestants and any other religious group not associated with the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate.

 

<Photo: In September 2014, Elena Velichko was left to raise her eight children alone after Russian separatists kill her husband, an active Pentecostal believer

 


KHARKIV, Mar 30, 2015 (UBO) – The Moscow Patriarchate persistently denies that it is involved in the suppression of other Christian and non-Christian believers in eastern Ukraine but the facts on the ground suggest something entirely different.

 

In the 93 percent of Ukrainian sovereign territory under the control of the legal government in Kyiv, all faiths are free to hold their services, maintain their church properties and worship as their beliefs dictate.

 

As U.S. National Public Radio (NPR) pointed out in a news report aired nationally in the United States on March 29 based on reporting in Ukraine, the constitution of the Donetsk People’s Republic denies the rights of any other church group.

 

The NPR report says in part:

 

“The [Donetsk People’s Republic] leaders there adopted a constitution that names the Russian Orthodox Church, led by the patriarch in Moscow, as the Republic's official religion. Oleg Regetsiy says the separatists have closed or taken over Protestant churches and harassed their members, pushing many to seek refuge in and around Kharkiv.”

 

For the complete text of the NPR report and access to an associated audio recording, link below:

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/29/3961283 ... lerance-rising-in-donetsk

 

Editor’s Note: We would call readers’ attention to a lengthy report by Vice News in which it showed DNR fighters billeting in Protestant church properties and the emergence of underground churches in Donetsk region. Access the complete Vice News report at:

https://news.vice.com/video/secret-pro ... sk-ukraines-religious-war

 

Your attention is also invited to an article detailing how pro-Russian thugs kidnapped an Adventist pastor while he was conducting Holy Communion:

http://www.ukrainebusiness.com.ua/news/13622.html

 

For the article related to the Velichko family photo appearing above, link to:

http://www.ukrainebusiness.com.ua/news/13588.html

 

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