Historic Ukrainian monastery burns after Russian shelling Zelenskyy says

Historic Ukrainian monastery burns after Russian shelling, Zelenskyy says

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A centuries-old monastery in Ukraine burned down beyond repair after being shelled by Russian artillery, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The All Saints’ Monastery of Svyatogorsk Monastery was torched on Saturday after a series of concentrated bombardments by invading Russian forces.

The monastery is a religious institution under the protection of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has continued to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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The fire was reported by Ukrainian journalist Agath Gorski, who posted footage of the disaster on Twitter.

“The wooden All Saints’ Monastery of Svyatogorsk Monastery in Donetsk region is burning due to Russian shelling!” Gorsky said. “The lavra dates back to the 16th century. Russia fires at them for the second time. This is another act of Russian barbarism. Nothing is sacred to them.”

Zelenskyy posted a video of the burning holy site on social media on Saturday.

The monastery in the Donetsk region of Ukraine is mainly made of wood and has stood since the 16th century.

The inferno is likely to further strain ecumenical relations between Ukraine and Russia. The ongoing invasion has prompted Orthodox bishops to secede from the Moscow Patriarchate and begin running autocephalous sees.

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The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has officially split from Moscow Patriarch Kirill, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, amid Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in what one analyst calls a “major blow to Putin.”

More than 100 churches in Ukraine had rejected the UOC in favor of the Kyiv-based Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which split from Moscow in 2019.

But the UOC itself declared “complete independence” from Moscow on Friday.

“We fully understand how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is suffering today,” said the head of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in central Moscow. He warned that “spirits of malice” wanted to divide the Orthodox peoples of Russia and Ukraine, but declared that this would not succeed.