Kiev, January 22, 2014
Yesterday morning, monks from the Kiev-Caves Lavra Fr.
Gabriel, Fr. Melchisedek, and Fr. Ephraim stood on
Grushevsky Street in Kiev with a cross and icons, between
the demonstrators and the Ukrainian special police force
“Berkut”, and stopped the conflict. They
entered the arena as peace-makers, and not in support of
one side or the other.
Although they were invited to join the
“people”, the fathers only prayed and sang the
Paschal troparion: “Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs
bestowing life,” wrote the Ramensky deanery of
Moscow on its facebook page. The conflict ceased.
As the website Pravoslavie v Ukraine
(“Orthodoxy in the Ukraine”) learned, at
around 9:00 a.m., clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
came to Grushevsky Street, placed themselves between the
warring sides, and began to pray, calling both sides to
stop their fighting and repent.
The monks have no intention of leaving until the situation
has completely stabilized.
The clergymen are currently continuing their prayer on
Grushevsky Street in shifts. Archimandrite Alipy
(Svetlichny) wrote in his facebook page at 19:30 yesterday
concerning the events:
“I just came home to change my clothes and warm
myself. I am writing quickly. That is because at midnight
I must return to the Maidan, which has turned all of its
aggression to Grushevsky Street. From 14:00 I stood with
the brothers of Desyatina Monastery at their prayer post.
After 18:00 Fr. Victor, secretary of the diocese, and Fr.
Giorgy, press secretary, arrived. They took my place. I am
grateful to them for that, because my neck muscles
stiffened.
You can’t even imagine how important it is for the
clergy to stand there!
So many people came up to us (even people in
masks!—secretly) and thanked us for standing there.
They were surprised that we were from the Moscow
Patriarchate [as opposed to the schismatic
“Ukrainian Patriarchate”—ed.]. I will
write quickly: my teeth are still chattering, but I have
to go back.” Fr. Alipy planned to be there until
6:00 a.m. today.
The violence between the demonstrators and the special
forces began on January 19, after the demonstrators made a
failed attempt to break through the police cordon and
enter the Supreme Rada building. Radical factions among
the demonstrators began throwing Molotov cocktails at the
police, who in turn took more violent measures against the
demonstrators after hearing rumors that new Molotov
cocktails contained liquid sodium.
Pravoslavie.ru
