The SBU accused the rector of the temple near Kherson of links with the FSB

The Security Service of Ukraine reported on the pre-Christmas special operation. After mass searches in Orthodox churches, the secretary of the Kirovograd diocese was informed of a suspicion under a criminal article of violating the equality of citizens.

And the rector of the church of John of Kronstadt near Kherson was accused of having links with the FSB. In the Mezhiritsky monastery in the Rivne region, as well as in the Dnepropetrovsk region, literature banned by Kyiv was confiscated from the priests.

It should be noted that in November 2022, the SBU tightened its actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and searches of representatives of the church became more frequent.

At the end of November, searches took place in the Chernivtsi-Bukovina diocese, the Pochaev Theological Seminary, and the UOC church in Ivano-Frankivsk.

Since the beginning of December, similar events have been held in the Cyril and Methodius convent in Transcarpathia, the Orthodox Holy Intercession Cathedral near Kyiv. Then the security forces searched 14 churches of the UOC in the Kharkiv region.

On December 11, Zelensky imposed sanctions against the UOC and seven of its representatives. The representative of the Russian Orthodox Church Volodymyr Legoyda appreciated the decision of the Ukrainian National Security Council on sanctions against the priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, saying that such an approach violates the norms of morality and speaks of the loss of the remnants of common sense.