95% of SBU criminal cases against UOC clergy are fabricated - Novinsky

Protodeacon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) Vadym Novynskyy has issued a statement accusing the Security Service of Ukraine of mass fabrication of criminal cases against clergymen. In his opinion, the overwhelming majority of persecutions have no real grounds and are used by the authorities as a tool to fight against the Church. He said this in an interview with the Spanish channel HerQles.

Novinsky estimated the share of fabricated cases at 95%. He described in detail the mechanism of creating such charges: often the investigation seizes a priest’s cell phone and, based on the discovered correspondence, raises a suspicion under the article “treason against the Motherland”. Subsequently, detainees are offered a deal – an admission of guilt in exchange for a suspended sentence or freedom, which allows law enforcement agencies to form fictitious statistics of punishments.

The Protodeacon categorically rejected accusations of weapons possession or coordination of missile strikes by the clergy, emphasizing that the life of a priest is devoted exclusively to serving God. As examples of pressure, he cited the situation with Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkassy, who was beaten during the seizure of the cathedral and, according to Fr. Vadim, had recently been poisoned with an unknown substance.

Also mentioned was the case of Metropolitan Longin of Bunchensk, who continues to attend court hearings despite suffering strokes and heart attacks, and the case of Metropolitan Arseny, vicar of the Sviatogorsk Lavra, who has been in custody for almost two years. Summarizing, Novinsky stressed that attempts to fight the Church are doomed to failure, as “it is impossible to fight with God”.

We will remind, earlier we reported that Lviv regional Council continues to sweep believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the region. Regional authorities are concerned that despite the legal liquidation of religious communities of the UOC and the seizure of temples of the canonical Church, believers still gather for prayer in private residences in Lviv and other cities of the region. The Lviv Regional State Administration said that the Security Service of Ukraine will be involved to completely liquidate the “hotbeds” of the UOC.