Since Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, Moscow-backed Ukrainian supporters have kidnapped, beaten and threatened Ukrainian Protestants and members of the Kiev-centred Orthodox Church, according to the US State Department. There have been numerous incidents of intimidation and violence between two branches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, one of them loyal to the patriarch in Kiev, the other to the Moscow patriarchate. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church – affiliated with Rome – reported three of its priests in Crimea had been kidnapped, and that a church in Dora had been burned to the ground. (Photo: Istvan Szucs via Flickr; CC 2.0)

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Ukraine rebels accuse Christians of spying

Rebels in the Donetsk region of Ukraine have declared an autonomous region complete with an official religion: The Russian Orthodox Church. that commanders of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” have shelled churches and the buildings of other religious minorities, and have arrested Protestant and Catholic leaders on suspicion of spying […]

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Ukraine Christians living in fear

Christians in eastern Ukraine fear growing persecution from pro-Russian separatists who have declared religious groups not affiliated to the Russian Orthodox Church to be their potential enemy. Since the Russian-backed rebels established the Donetsk People’s Republic in April 2014, their self-declared government made Russia’s Orthodox Church their official faith. The […]

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Russian takeover of Crimea leads to inter-Church tensions

Russian takeover of Crimea leads to inter-Church tensions

Reports of violence and intimidation by pro-Russian groups against non-Russian Orthodox Christians in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine are beginning to emerge. According to Ukraine’s Liga News website, on June 1, a group of armed men in traditional Cossack clothes attacked the Holy Virgin Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate (the UOC-KP) […]

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