Nationalists attempt to interfere with All-Ukraine sacred procession
July 13, 2016. The All-Ukraine Orthodox procession, which is heading from the direction of Donbass,from the Svyatogorsk Monastery, came under attack of radicals from Right Sector, an extremist organization banned in Russia, as reports Interfax.
As the website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate reported, a total of 20 nationalists marched in a parallel to the Christians and interrupted the prayer for peace with shouts and insults. Moreover, the far-right extremists drove in constant close proximity to the sacred procession.
The nationalists marched parallel to the procession holding red and black banners. According to witnesses, the radicals shouted slogans, alternating them with obscenities addressed towards the participants in the procession.
The participants in the procession were filmed and threatened. Some of the nationalists attempted to break through the procession to the sacred relics, but were prevented from doing so.
The All-Ukraine sacred procession with the prayer for peace in Ukraine started in the east of the country from the Svyatogorsk Monastery on July 3, and in the west of the country from the Pochaev Monastery on July 9. The participants in both processions will meet in Kiev at St. Vladimir Hill and will walk together to the Kiev Pechersk Laura, where a ceremonial service will be held on July 27, the eve of the celebration of Christianization of the Kievan Rus Day.
As reported, Ukrainian Verkhovnaya Rada Chairman Andrey Paruby said recently that among the participants in the sacred procession are not only civilians, but also provocateurs with banned symbols, and that the event itself will be used by the Kremlin for provocations on the streets of Kiev on July 26.
In turn, Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine made a stand against the attempts to divide the Ukrainian citizens into ‘patriots’ and ‘separatists.’
For his part, Vakhtang Kipshidze, deputy head of the Synodal Department for Church, Society and Media Relations, told Interfax-Religion that the attempts to use against the All-Ukraine sacred procession “political horror stories may be made only by those people who never participated in sacred processions and hold notions of the life of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church based on the fantasies understood only by themselves.”