Attack on a Cathedral in Kyiv: the unknown attempted to arson the St. Andrew's Church

Today, November 15, about 7:20 am, a group of criminals attempted to arson the St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv. Two unknown persons threw the bottles with a combustible mixture - Molotov's cocktails - into the church and attacked a priest using tear gas. After an unsuccessful attempt, unknown attackers escaped from the crime scene.

The spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, Yevstratiy Zorya, said that the attack's main goal was to intimidate the Ecumenical Patriarchate, since the St. Andrew's Church was recently taken over to the Constantinople as a residence of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine.

worth noting that Ukraine intends to nominate the St. Andrew's Church as a separate UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church was constructed according to the project of the outstanding architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, it is a part of the "Sofia Kyivska" National Histrical Complex and is a state property. It is currently in use by the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The St. Andrew's Church Prior Makario emphasized on own full support to the idea of the church transfer to the Ecumenical Patrirchate.

This particular incident indicates that Ukrainian Orthodox community should be prepared to actively defend the Ukrainian Church from the enemy's attacks and provocations. This shall be recalled that shorty after first news on possible provision of an autocephaly to Ukrainian Orthodox Church appear, the Russian Orthodox Church representatives and Moscow proxy politicians in Ukraine commented them with threats on "possible bloody consequences."