The raid began at dawn and went on all day. Church services were interrupted as soldiers and security agents spread across the vast territory of the ancient monastery. They were courteous but insistent; they searched churches and chapels, offices, and the personal quarters of priests, monks and acolytes.
They checked passports and ID cards; they took away books, documents and cash. They did not make mass arrests, this time at least — but by the time they left it was obvious that the Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kyiv would never be the same.
It was the beginning of what is turning into a legal assault by the Ukrainian government on one of the country’s most powerful and ancient institutions, one of the two denominations of the Orthodox church in Ukraine. After months of hesitation, President Zelensky has set in motion criminal investigations and legislation intended to snuff out what many believe is a pro-Russian fifth column inside the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
//Hard-Paywall – do not post //
ConservativeChick
Article URL : https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/zelensky-declares-war-on-an-enemy-within-the-ukrainian-orthodox-church-tfkzvsc9x