Priest on Hunger Strike Faints in Front of Mariupol City Hall
A parish priest of a community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate, Fr. Volodymyr Koskin, on August 1 lost consciousness in front of the City Council of Mariupol of the Donetsk Oblast. On July 18, the 35-year-old priest declared a hunger strike demanding allocation by the authorities of a land plot for the construction of a church.
According to religion.in.ua, Fr. Volodymyr erected a tent in a flower bed in front of the entrance to the council and serves services there. There is a table near the tent. Signatures are collected to support the construction. “Last summer, our church was sheltered by a sponsor, Petro Trandofilov, who provided a building to us free of charge. Last autumn, he asked us to leave. He explained that the local authorities put pressure on him as they do not support our church.”
After the incident, the priest stopped the hunger strike due to health problems.
In the hunger strike, he was accompanied by two faithful, a teacher Tetiana Malaieva and human rights campaigner Halyna Holubova. They live in tents near the city's executive committee. One can see posters that say: “We will not allow anyone to destroy the Kyivan Patriarchate” as well as other ones.
“We have fought for the church of St. Panteleimon for nearly two years now. We want to build a rehabilitation center for disabled persons attached to the church,” said Mrs. Holubova.
“They allocate land for the Moscow Patriarchate free of charge. But the Kyivan Patriarchate buys land for church buildings with the faithful's money,” commented the press secretary of the Donetsk Eparchy of the UOC-Kyivan Patriarchate, Fr. Serhii.
“There is a plan of development for the town, which includes places assigned for the construction of religious buildings. But respected Father Volodymyr decided to build a church in the park. The committee refused to allow construction in that place,” said a representative of the Department of Internal Policy of the city's Executive Committee.
