Russian Orth. Church Says UGCC Incited Violence; Says Greek Cath. Clergy Fueled Fire Toward Orth.

A leading official of the Russian Orthodox Church has accused Ukrainian Greek Catholic clergy of inciting violence against the Orthodox in Ukraine, the Catholic Culture website reports today (October 4, 2014).

"When blood was shed and the first people were killed in the streets of Kiev and other cities of Ukraine, bishops and priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) called for the escalation of violence," said Hieromonk Stefan Igumnov, secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate's Synodal Department for External Church Relations.

Many Orthodox priests and members of their families have been subjected to violence by nationalists inspired by Uniates (Greek Catholics) and schismatics (separatists)," he added.

He concluded, "The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church did not stop that aggressive rhetoric even in those days when fragile ceasefire was established in eastern Ukraine."