UOC cleric: Chernivtsi pogrom is just the tip of the iceberg

Archpriest Oleksandr Klymenko. Photo: Screenshot from the Viche YouTube channel

Speaking on the Viche YouTube channel, UOC priest Oleksandr Kliymenko stated that the events in Chernivtsi revealed only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to church seizures across Ukraine.

“Patriarch Bartholomew – and I think this is very important – has the opportunity to put two and two together and see in Chernivtsi not just one incident, but 90% of similar cases happening now in Ukraine,” Fr. Oleksandr emphasized.

According to him, most such incidents go unnoticed simply because they are not captured on video.

“We’re outraged over what happened in Chernivtsi only because there were cameras and we saw the disgrace with our own eyes. A huge number of people in the ‘church–police’ or ‘church–city administration’ network act with impunity, hoping that if they seize a cathedral, the recordings will be erased, destroyed, or the cameras broken,” the priest explained.

He noted that most parishes lack proper recording equipment, and the number of defenders is often too small, which enables successful seizures with the backing of police and local authorities.

“The few videos that parishioners manage to film from the side – someone on the left, someone on the right – their phones are sometimes knocked out of their hands, and there’s simply no evidence left,” the UOC cleric added.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that according to OCU publicist Tetiana Derkach, the clerics who led the assault on the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Chernivtsi are “desacralizing both the holy priesthood and the Church itself.”

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