Crimean Diocese of the UOC MP, together with Russian invaders, celebrated Victory Day
This is reported by "NeVilny Krym".
Metropolitan Lazarus also quoted Patriarch Alexey I (Simansky) of Moscow and all Russia, who said on May 9, 1945: "we confidently and patiently waited for this joyful day of the Lord – the day on which the Lord prophesied his righteous judgment over the fiercest enemies of humanity – and Orthodox Russia, after the incredible tension of all the forces of the people, stood up as one person for the sake of saving the Fatherland, and did not spare life itself for the sake of saving the Fatherland, now stands before the Lord of forces in prayer."
On the eve of May 6, in the Cathedral of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky in Simferopol, archpriest Bogdan Severin, dean of the Simferopol Church District of the UOC-MP, co-served with the city clergy, performed a thanksgiving service in memory of the Holy Great Martyr George the Trophy-Bearer, which was attended by more than 2,000 people, including: servicemen of the 22nd Army Corps of the armed forces of the Russian Federation headed by the head of the occupation Simferopol Garrison, Major General D. Lyamin, representatives of the EMERCOM of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Crimea "headed by the head of the "Main Directorate", Major General of the Internal Service A. Ozhygin, members of the DTSAAF, cadets of the movement "Unarmia", "Black Sea Cossack Army" and students of cadet classes of secondary schools in Simferopol. At the end of the prayer service, Fr. Bogdan congratulated those present on the upcoming holiday of "the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War" and called on the occupation soldiers "to do everything possible so that peace in our country is never broken, so that any deadly enemy is stopped by you and defeated. "Carry the word of God in you, and then you will become invincible, and St. George the victorious will definitely help you, make you strong in spirit and protect you on your difficult life path," the priest of the Crimean Diocese of the UOC-MP added.
On May 9, in Sevastopol, on the central city ring, a traditional "Victory Parade" took place, which was attended by more than 1,200 military personnel of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and other law enforcement agencies of the occupying state, as well as cadets of the branch of the "Nakhimov naval school", representatives of the All-Russian military-patriotic public movement "Unarmia" and the parade crew of the International Children's Center "Artek", the dean of the Sevastopol District of the UOC-MP archpriest Sergey Khalyuta, who that day also took part in laying flowers at the memorial to the heroic defenders of Sevastopol 1941-1942 together with the occupation "leadership" of the city and representatives of the command of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.
Earlier, on May 7, archpriest Sergei Khalyuta took part in a concert on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the victory over Nazism and the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Sevastopol from German invaders, which was held at the Sevastopol drama theater named after him. Lunacharsky, together with the aforementioned Mikhail Razvozzhaev, Yekateryna Altabaeva, Volodymyr Nemtsev and Igor Osypov. Together with the same persons, as well as with the heads of the occupation departments in Sevastopol, Serhiy Khalyuta took part in a memorial rally on Sapun mountain on the same day.
The day before, on May 6, Sergei Khalyuta, at the head of the Sevastopol clergy of the UOC-MP, planted 1,200 flower pots in the form of a St. Sergius ribbon on the territory of the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh as part of the annual action "Blooming St. George Ribbon", which was also attended by "Senator" Ekaterina Altabayeva, and also sent a funeral lity during the solemn reburial of the remains of 277 soldiers of the Soviet Army at the Memorial Cemetery of the village of Dergachi: Mikhail took part in the solemn rally Ivan Razvozzhaev, Volodymyr Nemtsev, Ekaterina Altabaeva representatives of the "city authorities" and the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation etc.
On May 8, Metropolitan Platon of Feodosia and Kerch of the UOC-MP took part in laying flowers at the Heroes' Memorial in the square of glory in Kerch together with "chairman of the municipality" Olga Solodylova, "deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea" Irina Chernenko and "head of the Kerch Administration" Sergey Borozdin.
In the Dzhankoy diocese, the clergy limited themselves to lity and laying flowers at the memorial to the soldiers-liberators in the Old City Cemetery of Dzhankoy, as well as litany at Memorial stelae and monuments to war heroes, burial sites and mass graves in the cities and villages of the northern Crimea, without the participation of representatives of local "authorities".