It should also be recalled that after the incident at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Chernivtsi — during which UOC priests were brutally assaulted by supporters of the OCU — the head of the OCU in the Chernivtsi region, Theognost Bodoryak, issued a statement addressed to the clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In his message, he urged UOC members “to turn their lives to God” and “remove the veil from their spiritual eyes.” According to Bodoryak, he bears “pastoral responsibility for the development of the local Orthodox Church in Bukovina and for the spiritual growth and benefit of every Orthodox believer.” He also expressed his intention to bring the initiated process to completion: “the path begun by the faithful and society will be fulfilled, and prayer in the main shrine of Orthodox Bukovinians will be offered within the OCU.”
“Nationalists and police academy cadets”: Media reports on those involved in the attack on the UOC Cathedral in Chernivtsi
Nationalists from the right-wing radical organization Trident and cadets from the Ivano-Frankivsk Police Academy may have been involved in the failed attempt to seize the Holy Spirit Cathedral of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It was members of these organizations who attacked the church and beat believers and clergy in Chernivtsi. In addition, it is reported that the incident took place with the full support of the police and city authorities. This was reported by the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
“Groups of young people took part in the seizure, who were immediately after the incident loaded into two police minibuses and taken away from the temple grounds in an unknown direction. Despite their illegal actions – violence, unlawful entry, and beating of priests and parishioners – none of them, apparently, were punished. At the same time, according to sources of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, a couple of hours later, the young people who participated in the seizure of the temple in Chernivtsi and brutally beat priests and parishioners were seen in elite restaurants in the city, which belong personally to the mayor of Chernivtsi, Roman Klychuk. There, the gangsters were given special service, and later they freely roamed the city, feeling their impunity,” – the media notes.
According to the UOJ, the participants in the attack on the UOC Cathedral in Chernivtsi were members of the right-wing nationalist organization “Trident,” active police officers, and cadets of the police academy in Ivano-Frankivsk.
“According to information from the UOJ, a significant part of the participants in the attack are active police officers from the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Also, according to sources, among the attackers were representatives of the Trident organization (with branches in Lviv and Kalush), as well as cadets from the Ivano-Frankivsk Police Academy. Sources also suggest that a “cleanup” may now begin: those involved may be retroactively dismissed, their participation attributed to private initiative, with promises of reinstatement later,” – the media added.
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