Russian soldiers torturing Orthodox priests claims Metropolitan

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The Lviv Metropolitan of the autocephalous "Orthodox Church of Ukraine", Dimitrij Rudjuk, raises serious accusations against Putin's army and Patriarch Kyrill in the "Tagespost" interview.

Orthodox priests are fleeing from the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.  This was confirmed by the Lviv Metropolitan of the autocephalous "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" (OCU), Dimitrij Rudjuk, in an interview with the "Tagespost".  In an interview at the cemetery in Lviv, he said: "The majority of our priests had to flee.  Those who stayed are often tortured." Five Orthodox priests had been shot dead and one priest-monk had been cruelly tortured to death, he said.

In the areas under Russian control, it is almost impossible to continue pastoral work, he said.  "When the Russian army enters an area, the soldiers look for the priests and check which church they belong to.  To do this, they have a ready-made list of questions.  Such a list was found near Kiev," reports Metropolitan Dimitrij.

Nevertheless, he said, since the war began on 24 February, some 600 parishes have switched from the "Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate" (UOC-MP) to the OCU, mainly in Central Ukraine.  His church had been given the task by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to seek unity among the divided Orthodoxy in Ukraine.  "The war has made this issue sensitive and topical."

Metropolitan Dimitrij speaks of a "second front" in this context "in view of the militaristic attitude of Patriarch Kyrill".

The Head of Russian Orthodoxy supports Putin's war, which causes great unrest among the faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine. In an interview with the "Tagespost", Metropolitan Dimitrij says : "The ideology of the russki mir (Russian world) is a heresy, because it contradicts the Gospel. This ideology destroys everything that is Christian."