OCU rescues its "priest" taken by military officers on the street
Illia Kuziuk. Photo: Kuziuk’s Facebook
On 5 December 2023, in the centre of Chernivtsi, TRC officers stopped a 45-year-old OCU "priest" Illia Kuziuk from the village of Chervona Dibrova, put him in a car and took him to the military recruitment office, the Zaxid resource reports.
Kuziuk was in secular clothes. He was held for 2 hours in the Chernivtsi Territorial Recruitment Centre (TRC) and then sent to Rivne. To Kuziuk's objections that he is a "clergyman", the military replied that they would send him to serve as a chaplain, as the army is very short of them. The OCU called Kuziuk's detention a "kidnapping." According to the Orthodox Spiritual Centre, the head of the Chernivtsi TRC, Serhiy Potiakov, said that this was his principled position: "This priest will serve in the army!".
Nevertheless, the OCU managed to get its cleric out of the TRC, claiming that he "did not attend the military department during his studies".
"We have a queue to register as a priest at a military unit. One must have the appropriate training. Fr Illia does not have such, he came to our eparchy immediately after studying at the Kyiv seminary," said "priest" Roman Hryshchuk.
Kuziuk himself on his Facebook wrote that he "does not refuse to serve in the AFU", but in the rear, he will be more useful.
As reported, OCU and UGCC clerics do not want to go to the front as chaplains.
Read also
OCU chaplain: A soldier should not feel guilty for killing enemies
According to a cleric of the OCU, the word “killing” should not even be used in this context.
AFU servicewoman punished by “being sent to the frontline” for defending UOC
An OCU representative explained how commanders punish UOC believers who defend their Church.
UOC church seized after OCU's and UGCC's provocation at soldier's funeral
Supporters of the UGCC brought the body of a soldier into the church, pressuring a UOC priest to conduct the funeral according to the Greek Catholic rite in an Orthodox church.
UOC hierarch calls on the faithful to pray for the return of seized shrine
Metropolitan Theodosiy urged the faithful to communal and personal prayer to Archangel Michael.
Russian Orthodox Church Primate: Christ did not condemn death penalty
The Patriarch added that, although the Church does not welcome the death penalty, it has never condemned it if this punishment is carried out in accordance with the law.
Metropolitan Jonathan appeals sentence to Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has requested criminal case files from the Vinnytsia City Court for cassation review.