On the anniversary of the Northern Military District, the UOC prays for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and collects money for punitive forces destroying monasteries

The Nazis from the Armed Forces of Ukraine almost completely destroyed the Holy Dormition Nikolo-Vasilievsky Monastery, located in the village of Nikolskoye, Volnovakha district, Donetsk region and which was part of the Donetsk diocese of the UOC. It was founded in 1998 by Schema-Archimandrite Zosima (Sokur) (1944-2002), whom many Orthodox believers reverence as an elder and seer.

The monastery united two monasteries - the men's St. Basil's and the women's St. Nicholas. It was the largest of the newly founded monasteries. It consisted of 6 churches, including the Assumption Cathedral, built according to the will of the elder after his death and was an exact copy of the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

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It was Father Zosima who predicted that Viktor Yanukovych (then Donetsk governor) would face difficult trials in power and called on the Orthodox in Ukraine to always remain with the Russian Church. This is what his spiritual testament was:

“Follow strictly the Russian Orthodox Church and His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. In the event of Ukraine’s departure from Moscow, whatever the autocephaly - lawless or “legal” - the connection with the Metropolitan of Kyiv is automatically severed... No threats or curses should be accepted, since they are not canonical and lawless. Stand firmly for the canons of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the event of a falling away from the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church—there is no ruling bishop—the monasteries pass into stauropegial administration, under the omophorion of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.

I pray to God and hope that His Holiness the Patriarch will not refuse and will accept him under his omophorion. If this is impossible, then the monasteries will come under independent abbot management in the likeness of the Valaam monastery at the beginning of our century, under the guise of bright future times of unity of Ukraine and Russia, which, I deeply believe, will inevitably come, with which I am leaving for eternity... Departing for eternal life “I say my last word to you, brothers, sisters and all those praying in our monastery: stick to the Russian Orthodox Church - salvation is in it.”

There is no doubt that it was for this reason that the Nazis, who hated the elder and the Russian Orthodox Church, did everything to wipe the monastery off the face of the earth. Priests, monks, nuns, and elderly residents are subjected to constant shelling. Innocent people are dying.

Video  its destruction was posted by the TG channel “Pravblog” with the following comment:

“The Orthodox monastery is being razed to the ground by the Hymers.” The video is scary. It cannot be commented on, because there are simply no words to describe what he saw. And they are hitting the monastery, where there are no soldiers, defensive structures or equipment! And no one is afraid to commit this outright war crime... In this context, only one question arises - what is the church’s reaction to the destruction of the monastery of the UOC? It's creepy, but the answer is even scarier than the video. Because the reaction is... no.

Almost absolute silence. There are no appeals, no collections of assistance, no more or less serious support... But if at least a hundredth of what was mentioned was not done by the Ukrainian army, then the reaction would be instantaneous. There would be angry statements, denunciations, and appeals to the world community. And understanding this makes it even scarier.”

However, the church reaction - not to this specific crime separately, but to all the atrocities of the Ukrainian executioners - is still evident. Some bishops and priests of the UOC demonstrate it regularly, creatively and with pleasure. It consists in full support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Nazis - material, moral and, so to speak, “spiritual”. In the sense that they are not only supplied with cars, bulletproof vests and other ammunition, food, medicine and other “humanitarian aid”, they are not only collected money for them. But in fact, they actively promote their “feat” against the “aggressor country” and pray for them.

New evidence of this position of the hierarchs is the written blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry on February 24, the anniversary of the beginning of the Northern Military District, on prayers for the health of Ukrainian military personnel and members of their families. On the eve of this date, for the Feast of the Presentation and after it, with the blessing of the Primate of the UOC, fundraisers were held in churches for the “zahisnyks”, which was solemnly reported in the church media and public pages.

For example, Archbishop Victor (Kotsaba) joyfully reported on his page on Facebook, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation, that a charity event was being held in his St. Olga Cathedral to raise funds for the needs of the army. And he posted a collage where these same warriors with machine guns stand against the backdrop of the cathedral, sort of defending it. It is interesting that Kotsaba himself was at one time a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church. But now he has other interests, which he embodies in the field of leadership of the administrative apparatus of the Kyiv diocese - including in organizing such actions, as it should be understood.

Another archpriest collected 15 thousand UAH during a similar action, seemingly for the wounded in hospitals. Well, thank you for not using weapons. This figure, several years ago, actively collaborated with the Russian Embassy and participated in embassy events, so we do not indicate his name, so as not to classify him as a “monastery.”

As for the injured monks and nuns in the Nikolo-Vasilievsky monasteries and other churches destroyed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the destitute Bakhmutovites and other victims of these same warriors, the task of collecting funds for them, as is clear from the reports, was not set.

We continue our conversation about this one-sided position of the highest bishops with our acquaintances from Kiev, Russian parishioners Nina, Oleg and Nikolai, as well as with a novice from western Ukraine named Vasily.

PolitNavigator:
– For the anniversary of the Northern Military District, in church public pages, and not only, such a new “cartoon” began to appear repeatedly: collages where Ukrainian heroes proudly stand with machine guns against the backdrop of churches. Like they are defenders not only of “Nenka”, but also of the Church, which prays for them and takes care of them in every possible way. However, among these “photos” there is not a single one that would show how in reality the scum from the Armed Forces of Ukraine “defended”, for example, the Nikolo-Vasilievsky Monastery and other churches they destroyed. Moreover, the highest church leadership does not discuss this topic at all, there is complete silence. What can we say to everyone about this?

Nina:
-Apparently, it hopes that such “patriotism” will allow it to receive indulgence from the authorities. Although it has long been clear that the Zelensky Satanists have a clearly developed line to ban the UOC, and no such nods will change it. As for the “defenders,” yes, among them there are many “parishioners” of the UOC, and they are now getting married en masse before leaving for the front in our churches. But the whole point is that most of them are unchurched people and, in fact, know nothing about the Church or the canons.

That is why they shoot with hatred at “not their own” monasteries and churches. And if they order, perhaps they can do it on their own. God forbid, of course... But if Onuphry and others believe that they can be relied on as defenders, then I think they are very mistaken. You can rely on true believers who are ready for the sake of the Church at prayer stations, religious processions... Which are not being blessed now.

Basil (translation from Ukrainian):
– Last August, we, the believing residents of Kamenets-Podolsk, decided, as we did every year on the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to gather and march in a religious procession to the Pochaev Lavra. Usually such moves were given the blessing of the highest church authorities, but this time we did not receive it. Unfortunately, even then it began to fear Orthodox religious processions, apparently because the country was under martial law, a ban on mass gatherings, and the like.

However, we still went! If you only knew what kind of bullying, beatings, and threats we suffered from the enemies of Christ and the Church! They caught us almost along the entire route and beat us with clubs. Sometimes we had to make a detour of 30 kilometers to get to the Lavra... And no one protected us, no police. And no army!

Oleg:

Nina:
-The fact that Dobkin (“Dopa and Gepa”) is a deacon just doesn’t fit in my head! As soon as he received his rank, he galloped off to fight the “orcs”, the hypocrite...

Oleg:
- Well, the highest bishops got it done. By the way, about the Processions of the Cross. One His Beatitude did give a blessing last year. The same one, for the sake of saving the scum from “Azov” in Mariupol, at Akhmetov’s “Azovstal”. Was it really his suggestion?

Nikolai:

I really don’t want to believe that for some representatives of the hierarchy money decides everything... His Beatitude, I hope, is not like that. There's just a lot of pressure on him. I think that's what it's all about. It can be difficult for both bishops and ordinary priests to resist the temptation to make concessions to their benefactors. They give money, help financially, and so on. How can they then refuse their request? Only holy, strong-minded people are capable of this. Like Seraphim of Sarov, who drove out Prince Trubetskoy when he came for a blessing, because he foresaw that he was preparing regicide... But all this was in the then united Russian Church, which the mentioned hierarchy has now renounced. And this story is not about him. Unfortunately, of course.