The Dognal sect’s aggressiveness observed recently in Lviv has a political purpose, believes religious expert Andriy Yurash; however, the hype around the “orthodox” is not justified: the sect is rapidly losing supporters.
Antonin Dognal’s group meets every Sunday near the Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Lviv. They bombard the city hall with requests to host the events. Each time submitted from a different individual.
“There is a good reason why the Dognalists have become so active now. They want to stir public opinion before the possible European integration of Ukraine,” he said on the program “Straight Talk” on Channel 24, ZAHID NET informs.
The religious expert believes the aggressive behavior is related to the fact that the sect is losing supporters and thus wants to attract attention. After all, two years ago there were a few thousand supporters of Dognal, and now there are just a few hundred.
“In this situation, when we see a clear decline in the religious community, the community itself begins to behave very aggressively. When any system starts to decline, it looks for ways to express itself. Once again to promote themselves in a peculiar way. For them it is publicity,” he said.
The parish priest at the Sts. Peter and Paul Church Stepan Sus hopes for reconciliation with the apostates of the church.
“These curses that we hear from the Dognal sect, especially from the clergy, will return to them. From whom those words come to them they will be returned. I don’t think this needs to be feared. We must pray. Yesterday we announced a general time of prayer. So that the Lord could understand these pseudo-pastors and give strength and grace to those who joined the sect,” said Fr. Stepan Sus.