Filaret members complain about persecution in Crimea, brazen self-defense and FSB officers with notebooks
Kyiv, November 25 (Navigator, Vladimir Mikhailov) – Priests and parishioners of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate are experiencing increasing moral, psychological and financial pressure from the Russian special services and the Crimean authorities.
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This was discussed at a round table in Kyiv, dedicated to the problems of the unrecognized church in Crimea and Sevastopol.
Thus, the head of the press service of the UOC-KP, Archbishop Evstratiy Zorya recalled the scandalous incident with the dacha of the leader of the Crimean Filaretites Kliment, which burned down in July near Simferopol.
“We consider it an act of pressure that Archbishop Clement’s country house was burned on his summer cottage, where he had built a small church. This is how intimidation is carried out,” Zorya said.
In addition, he noted, pickets of the Crimean self-defense were repeatedly held at the cathedral church in Simferopol.
“After contacting the Russian police, the pickets were stopped. But every Sunday, leaflets began to appear at the temple, saying that there were accomplices of the Kyiv junta, fascists, Banderaites, etc. The purpose of the pickets and leaflets was to intimidate people,” complained the head of the press service of the Filaretites.
Pressure, according to him, also comes from the activities of FSB officers, which were of a demonstrative nature.
“So, a person who is known to be a former SBU officer who betrayed Ukraine and went over to the side of Russia comes to the service (and the very first, immediately after the opening of the temple), sits on a bench, opens a notebook, sits with this throughout the service notepad and is the last to leave the service. It’s unlikely that people feel comfortable when they have such a person behind them,” Zorya emphasized.
Well, the main problem of the Simferopol temple of the UOC-KP, he said, was the sharp increase in rent for the land on which the temple is located. If earlier it was 1 UAH per year, and the lease agreement was signed for 49 years, now the Council of Ministers of Crimea has increased the rent to 600 thousand UAH per year.
“It is unclear what will happen when this year ends. The main problem is the issue of new registration. According to Crimean legislation, only Russian citizens have the right to register a religious community. “Those who do not want to accept Russian citizenship find themselves in a powerless position. Their right to freedom of religion cannot be realized,” stated Evstratiy Zorya.
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