Priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate opposed the construction of a synagogue at St. Cyril Orthodox cemetery, where excavations began by order of the Russian Babi Yar memorialization project, and the remains of burials were found in the first hours.
This was announced by executive vice-president of the Congress of national communities of Ukraine Iosif Zissels, Big Kyiv reports.
According to him, the other day priests from the nearby chapel of the Moscow Patriarchate approached the site on the territory of the Kirillovske Orthodox cemetery, where excavations were conducted, looked at it and said that if the synagogue was built on bones, it would be burned.
"So the picture is becoming clear: according to one order from Moscow, a synagogue is being built on the land plot of an Orthodox cemetery, and according to the second-order from the same place, the synagogue is being set on fire. And then – according to the third order, guess where the video of the fire with relevant comments about "Ukrainian anti-Semitism" will be held all over the world," concludes Zissels.
According to him, if one adds confidential information, "which appeared the other day about the alleged transfer of a significant amount of money from one pro-Russian party that feels quite comfortable in Ukraine, to right-wing radical organizations in Ukraine, it remains only to gather strength and chase away this whole gang from Ukraine to their leaders in the Kremlin with a pigpen broom."
The Office of the President of Ukraine allowed the Russian authors of the Babyn Yar memorial to start construction of a Memorial Synagogue on the land of St. Cyril Orthodox cemetery. On December 25, the initiators of the Russian project of the Babi Yar memorial complex began excavations at St. Cyril Orthodox cemetery and came across the remains of old burials there.
In this regard, Ukrainian Jews began collecting protest signatures against the new abuse of the history of peoples. They appealed to civil society to protect the Orthodox cemetery from construction, threatening interethnic and interfaith conflict in Ukraine.