UOC Legal Department creates an interactive map of church seizures
As of March 26, 62 parishes have been attacked by schismatic raiders.
An interactive map of the seizures of UOC temples presented during the press conference "UOC in March: Reaction of International Organizations, Lawsuits, Religious Conflicts in Regions – Figures and Facts" was published on the Internet.
The map was developed by the UOC Legal Department, which used Google’s map service as the basis for an interactive document.
The interactive map shows that as of March 26, 62 parishes have been attacked by schismatic raiders, the majority of which are in the western part of the state.
“The map is published on the official website of the Legal Department and accurately reflects the real statistics of the temples seized on the territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. As you can see, most of the seizures take place in Western Ukraine – this is the territory of the Volyn, Rovno and Zhitomir regions. Clicking on the icon opens a short description of the events that preceded the seizure of the temple,” Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, head of the UOC Legal Department told media representatives during the presentation of an interactive document.
He stressed that data on the attacks on churches were collected as part of the monitoring of the violations of the rights of believers of the canonical Church by the Legal Department, with the blessing of the Holy Synod of the UOC.
As the UOJ reported, on March 26, 2019, a press conference "UOC in March: Reaction of International Organizations, Lawsuits, Religious Conflicts in Regions – Figures and Facts" was held at the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, during which the head of the UOC Representative Office to European International Organizations, Bishop Victor of Baryshevka (Kotsaba) spoke of how the authorities neglected the norms of international law. During a media briefing, an interactive map of the seizure of temples developed by the Legal Department of the canonical Church was presented.