By Kostas Onisenko
On August 8, 2021, representatives of the Simferopol-based “Center for Combating Extremism,” led by Major Gerovanov Mikhail, invaded the Monastery of St. Dimitrios in the village of Balka in the Bilogirsky region of Crimea and forced the abbot of the monastery to interrupt the Divine Liturgy.
According to them, officiating the Divine Liturgy violates Russian law.
“The authorities banned us from officiating the services, took everyone out into the yard and began to draw up a protocol confirming the violation,” Metropolitan Kliment of Simferopol and Crimea told the “Voice of Crimea” news agency.
According to the press service of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the men’s monastery of St. Dimitrios is one of the seven ecclesiastical structures on the peninsula after its illegal annexation by Russia.
Previously, there were more than 40 parishes of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
“Since March 2014, the Russian occupying authorities have been obstructing the operation of these parishes in every possible way, by using the method of exerting pressure on property owners, by brute force or with the help of puppet-courts, which have been removing the possibility of performing services or other activities.
The most well-known incidents that have taken place are the attempt to seize by legal proceedings the building of the cathedral of Saints Volodymyr and Olga as well as the administration of the Metropolis in Simferopol and instructions to the parish for demolition of the church built shortly before the occupation in Yevpatoria.
In the city of Sevastopol and in the village of Perevalne, next to Simferopol, the occupying forces forcibly seized the churches located near the military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the statement said.
