24.04.2014, Ukraine.
According to Odessa Diocese, a Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) in Odessa was desecrated and burglarized by unidentified attackers, reported the RIA Novosti news agency on April 24.
In the early hours of April 23, the thieves disabled the alarm system, broke the window guard, and they intruded into the Church of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica in Odessa. The intruders stole the donations collected by parishioners for the needy; they broke an icon, and they stole its decorations. Also, they poured oil and wine on priests’ vestments, damaged church items, and they put dirt into food prepared for the poor.
According to the report, the burglars acting in the Church remained unnoticed by the security personnel who arrived at the scene.
The Diocese reminded that in recent years, almost fifty cathedrals of the Odessa Diocese have been subject to similar blasphemous attacks.
On 18 April, Patriarch Kirill said that in Ukraine, the Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) suffers persecution, attacks on its civil rights, obstruction to registering its parishes, and seizure of church buildings, while the international community remains silent about these incidents.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
