UOC clerk details the delaying of buses with Zaporozhye believers
Due to the authorities’ obstruction, the UOC believers were late for the Cross procession in Kiev.
On the night of July 27 in the Zaporozhye region, SBU officers delayed 5 buses with pilgrims heading for Kiev to join the Cross procession. Another 10 were detained by the radically-minded military, Protopriest Gennady Yelin, the chancellor of the Zaporozhye eparchy, said on the air of the "1 Kozak" channel.
"Some of the buses of our eparchy are already in Kiev, some are late and expect at least towards the end of the Cross procession or to the all-night vigil – to venerate the shrines that will participate in the procession," the priest said.
According to Fr. Gennady, 10 more buses were detained at 11 am by former ATO fighters.
"15 people on their personal cars blocked the road, with 500 believers on buses," the UOC representative said. "People got out of the buses, and only then the police asked the ATO fighters to leave the road."
Fr. Gennady said that at night the officers of the Security Service checked the buses that were late for the Cross procession in Kiev for the presence of a bomb.
"But if there is a bomb in the bus, then people should be evacuated, and the areas secured," said the chancellor of the Zaporozhye eparchy. "Instead, they did the questioning on the buses. The bomb squad didn’t arrive either ... They are just procrastinating so that we fail to get to the Cross procession. It's 5 buses, about 360 people."
As the UOJ reported, officials created obstacles for believers to participate in the Cross procession of the UOC. Despite this, thousands of pilgrims flocked to the Vladimir Hill in Kiev.
