Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine is thousands of years old, and the faith was the major uniting factor. Any religious disagreements would disrupt the society. This is why the Ukrainian security services brand any monk or priest unwilling to break off relations with the Russian Orthodox Church as an agent of Moscow. Now the church, subordinate to the Moscow Patriarch, is described as hostile, something that must be eliminated.
“That was the first time I’d ever seen violent seizures of churches, and what militant nationalist groups were like. While filming sacred celebrations in western Ukraine, a crowd of half-drunk local nationalists turned up and started beating up Orthodox priests in front of me”, says Aleksandr Egortsev, special correspondent of Spas TV Channel. Since then, Aleksandr has faced a growing number of unjustified attacks on the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Why have those who pray for peace been outlawed and persecuted?
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