In the city of Ladyzhyn, Vinnytsia region, a local priest of the Moscow Patriarchate, Yevhen Vorobyov, organized another provocation near the Holy Kazan Church, whose community unanimously decided to move to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine last fall. The man ran around with a sledgehammer, tried to destroy the fence and set a dog on people. This was reported to UNN by Mykhailo Bondarenko, head of the OCU community of the Holy Kazan Church.
The incident took place on April 2. This was not the first time Yevhen Vorobyov tried to provoke a conflict.
This has happened before. He (Yevhen Vorobyov - ed.) and his few supporters are constantly trying to provoke us into a conflict in order to make a favorable picture for the Russian propaganda media that there is allegedly religious persecution in Ukraine. This time it was the same story. It was a priest running around with a sledgehammer, trying to break down the fence near the church. He was harassing the guys guarding the church, setting a dog on them, and speaking insultingly about Ukraine, its defenders, and fallen soldiers. We recorded all this and wrote another statement to the police
He explained that the community had drawn up all the necessary documents to transfer to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, but Yevhen Vorobyov had actually seized the refectory, where he holds services for his few supporters. But people do not want to see this man with his anti-Ukrainian sentiments.
We already have a permanent priest of the OCU who regularly holds services. People come, the church lives and develops
Context
In November last year, the community of the St. Kazan Church in Ladyzhyn held a meeting at which it unanimously decided to transfer to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. All the necessary documents were drawn up and the new community was registered.
In late December , people wanted to enter their church. However, the local priest of the UOC-MP, Yevgeny Vorobyov, whose son is studying to become a military chaplain in the enemy army in Russiabarricaded himself in the church, hiding behind women and children.
Pepper gas was used against representatives of the OCU community and they were beaten with sticks. So, in order not to provoke a conflict, people moved away.
On January 9 , people were able to get into their churchand found Russian flags, icons depicting the Russian imperial family, religious books with propaganda for the "Russian world," pro-Russian calendars, photo portraits of Russian Orthodox Church hierarchs, and a selection of DVDs with propaganda films about Russia.
A few days later, power engineers visited the territory of the Holy Kazan Church and discovered an unauthorized connection to the power gridthat had been made when the church was run by representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, calculated damages of almost 90 thousand hryvnias, and drew up a report.
At the same time, the propaganda channels of the aggressor state found out about this through Yevhen Vorobyov's son, Dmytro Vorobyov, who is studying to become a military chaplain in Russia.
The propagandists, of course, showed it in a way that was favorable to them, saying that there was allegedly religious harassment in Ukraine. The video was passed on by local residents.