Media detail attacks on UOC clerics in Zaporizhzhia

Archpriest Vladimir Gumeniuk. Photo: newsae.ru

The Inter TV channel did a story on two clerics of the Zaporizhzhia Eparchy of the UOC – Archpriest Vladimir Gumeniuk and Deacon Georgy Cherpakov and his family.

On January 12, an unknown person attacked Fr Vladimir Gumeniuk, a priest of the Holy Protection Cathedral in Zaporizhzhia, stabbing him in the head.

“We were going our separate ways when I suddenly received a blow to the head, fell on one knee and automatically covered my head with my hands. For several minutes I had a loss of speech. Apparently, he (the attacker – Ed.) is an unhappy person,” the injured priest said in an interview with the Inter TV channel.

Fr Vladimir himself went to the hospital where he underwent an operation. While the priest was in the hospital, in the same area on January 16, there was another attack on the cleric of the UOC, Deacon Georgy Cherpakov. The deacon said that in the first place he was afraid not so much for himself but for his family.

“(The attacker - Ed.) unbuttons his jacket, pulls out a knife with his left hand, puts it in his right hand and approaches us with a knife. When he began to get very close to us, we began to pray aloud, and he got embarrassed, walking away,” said the deacon.

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol commented on the series of attacks on the clergy of the eparchy.

“There is such an intensity of rage, anger and cruelty in our society that any passing person can be in the place of the priest. This is another warning sign and the Lord shows us that we are on the right path, we are following the Lord,” said Vladyka.

The Church does not take a position on what is behind the attacks on clergy and hopes for the work of law enforcement agencies.

In the Holy Protection Cathedral in Zaporizhzhia, where Archpriest Vladimir Gumeniuk serves, parishioners pray for the priest and wish him a speedy recovery.

As previously reported, an attacker with a knife assaulted a UOC deacon and his family in Zaporizhzhia.

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