His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy Awards Defenders of the Cathedral in Chernivtsi

On July 12, in the Holy Spirit Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Chernivtsi, Metropolitan Meletiy of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna presented church awards on behalf of the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, to the clergy and laypeople who suffered on June 17 during an attack by supporters of the OCU. This was reported by the “First Cossack” channel.

“Chernivtsi has become a special place for the entire Orthodox world, where Orthodox people defended their holy site. They defended our common spiritual home from people with bad intentions who tried to seize it,” said Metropolitan Meletiy.

According to him, the incident at the Chernivtsi cathedral received wide international attention. “Our Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, also experienced and worried about this together with us — one might say, almost in real time,” the bishop added.

Metropolitan Meletiy also conveyed words of gratitude from His Beatitude: “His Beatitude asked to bow low to everyone who took part in the defense of the cathedral.”

Earlier, it was reported that OCU lobbyist Edgar Kalancha, who launched a horrific fake story about alleged abuse of children in the orphanage at the Ascension Monastery of the UOC in Bancheny, claimed that the attempted seizure of the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Chernivtsi was supposedly part of a “Russian destabilization of the region.” Kalancha also alleged that some “pro-Russian Romanian forces” were interested in the incident and had harshly criticized the OCU for its attempt to seize the main church of the Chernivtsi Diocese of the UOC.