MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2018) The Security Service of Ukraine on Wednesday said that it had questioned 12 clerics of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church as witnesses in the cases on incitement of religious hatred and state treason, SBU spokeswoman Inna Ilyuchok said.
"Today, 12 priests were called as witnesses in open criminal proceedings, which are investigated by the SBU officers in the Rivne region," the spokeswoman said, as quoted by the Liga Novosti news agency.
At the same time, Aleksander Egorov, the secretary of the Rivne eparchy of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, has said that 14 clerics have received subpoenas for questioning.
In late November, SBU raided the residency of Metropolitan Pavel, the father superior of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, a historic cave monastery at the heart of a row between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), which owns the Christian shrine, and the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP). The prosecutors also reportedly launched a case for inciting religious hatred against him. Later some other premises and private houses of the UOC-MP were also searched.
Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, the head of the UOC-MP legal department, said that accusations against the clerics of inciting religious hatred were groundless and far-fetched. He added that UOC-MP would appeal to the international community in connection with such actions.
Kiev authorities are working to establish a single local autocephalous (independent) church in the country based on the non-canonical Ukrainian orthodox churches. In October, the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate announced that it would proceed with granting independence to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which Poroshenko, who seeks to establish a single independent church in the country, welcomed.
The Constantinople Patriarchate's decision prompted the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to completely "break the Eucharistic communion" with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Moscow Patriarchate called Constantinople's decision the "legalization of schism," saying that it would have catastrophic consequences and affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries.
