Ukrainian church in Lviv vandalized
October 25, 2018. A church named in honor of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Vladimir the Great in Lviv, Ukraine, was vandalized in the night of October 20-21, reports the site of the Lviv Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The same church has been attacked several times already this year.
The humble wooden church was pasted with images of Joseph Stalin with the inscription, “The true canonical name of the Moscow Orthodox Church is ‘Stalin’s Patriarchate.’”
In January, nationalistic forces picketed the church, and on February 3, the church was set on fire. The perpetrators have yet to be found. Restoration work is still underway.
The diocese is calling on vandals to cease attacking the church, reminding them of the 5th paragraph of the recent statement from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in which its Holy Synod “appeal[s] to all sides involved that they avoid appropriation of churches, monasteries, and other properties as well as every other act of violence and retaliation so that he peace and love of Christ may prevail.”
“Unfortunately, we see neither Christ’s love for others nor the desire for peace in the actions of these unknown persons who desecrated St. Vladimir’s Church,” the diocesan message reads. It also entreats the parishioners of the church to remain calm, pray, and entrust the situation to the providence of God.
The message also calls on those involved in the current sectarian strife in to maintain their dignity as Christians and to remember that they were “bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20), that they “are Christ’s” (3:23), and that they should “glorify God in [their] bod[ies], and in [their] spirit[s], which are God’s (6:20).
Photo documents from the Lviv Diocese
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