Odessa region churches robbed and desecrated

On the night of January 30, two churches of the Belgorod-Dniester deanery in Odessa were robbed and the altars desecrated. A total of UAH 4,000 was stolen from St. Andrew’s parish in the village of Andreevka, and Kazan Icon parish in the village of Monashi, reports a UOJ correspondent.

The stolen funds had been collected by parishioners to be transferred to a social and humanitarian aid center in Odessa to help refugees from East Ukraine, the poor, and the ill.

The press secretary of the Odessa diocese stated that the attackers “violated not only civil, but the Divine law, defiling the church altars by their crimes.”

Several dozens of churches have been attacked over the past two years, with police as yet detaining no suspects. These are the first attacks of the new year.