Church protest over monument to Stalin in Zaporizhya

On Friday, 7 May, the Bishop of Zaporizhya and Melitopol spoke out on behalf of the clergy and congregation of the eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church against the monument to Stalin in Zaporizhya.

Bishop Yosyp stated that Stalin was not seen by all in the same way. “One should not forget those people, the majority of whom were Orthodox, who were repressed, tortured in NKVD dungeons, among them Orthodox clergy.

As Bishop of the Zaporizhya Eparchy, he considers it his duty on behalf of Ukrainian Orthodox Church faithful “to register protest over this unacceptable measures since the action is an affront to the religious feelings of many thousands of Zaporizhya believers.”

He expressed the hope that the opinion of the Church would be taken into consideration by the initiators of the monument and that it would help a peaceful resolution of the given problem.

It is not quite clear what Bishop Yosyp meant by this since, as reported here, the monument to Stalin has

despite protests, been erected in Zaporizhya.  The monument is around three metres and is a half figure of Stalin in military uniform. The monument is on the territory adjacent to the Zaporizhya Regional Committee [obkom] of the Communist Party.