Article: Why Russian separatists called an exorcist when they discovered a Ukrainian POW was an evangelical Christian

[RZehr]

A Ukrainian soldier said he was tortured by Russian separatists and forced to undergo an exorcism, partly because of his evangelical Christian faith.

Viktor Cherniiavskyi is now a first-person view (FPV) drone pilot, but he said he was a chaplain to evangelical Christians in the Ukrainian army in 2014 when Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula.

While serving as a volunteer in the city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, Cherniiavskyi said he was captured by Russian-aligned forces.

During his 25 days of captivity, Cherniiavskyi said he was held in a basement cell in a prison in Luhansk, where he said he was beaten with a baseball bat, had unloaded pistols shot at his head, and was repeatedly Tasered.

When his captors became aware of his evangelical faith, a Russian Orthodox priest from Moscow was called to carry out a form of exorcism on him, he told Business Insider.

"When the priest tried to cast demons out of me, he gave me two reasons: First, because of my 'black eyes.' Second, because I'm an evangelical Christian. Crossing his hands, he pushed me to kiss the crucifix," Cherniiavskyi said.

He added that the Kremlin had a particular hatred of Protestants and evangelical Christians and that Moscow saw anyone affiliated with US churches as "foreign agents."

From same article:

Ukraine has Europe's largest evangelical Christian community, wrote Yermak. About 800,000 to 1 million Ukrainian evangelicals attend Protestant churches on Sundays.

Yermak called Russia's religious oppression at home and in Ukraine a "systematic assault."

He argued that US evangelicals need to override the pro-Putin narrative among some conservative evangelicals and come to Ukraine's defense.

Quoting Apostle Paul, Yermak called on US evangelicals to "extend goodwill to all, especially to fellow believers."

A report by the Atlantic Council said that Russia's occupation of parts of Ukraine was threatening Ukraine's religious pluralism.

Russia has banned certain religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, for example.

Earlier this year, a Russian court sentenced nine Jehovah's Witnesses to substantial prison terms for "extremism," adding to a series of jailings and interrogations of believers since the ban was introduced in 2017, Reuters reported.

Religious sites have also been targeted since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as Putin's forces have sought to eradicate Ukrainian culture.

Some of the roughly 30,000 books in the library of the Protestant Tavriski Christian Institute in Kherson were looted and thrown in the trash, per local reports.

In a video testimony, Pastor Dmitry Bodyu of the Word of Life Church in Melitopol, occupied by Putin's forces in the first weeks of the war, added, "The Russian military seized our church building. I was imprisoned and told that I would soon be killed. For local evangelical believers under Russian occupation, a deadly threat remains."

Bodyu told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth that his Russian captors thought he was a spy, which is seemingly a common occurrence.

Rev. Mykhailo Brytsyn, pastor of the Grace Church of Evangelical Christians Melitopol, told a summit International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington DC in February: "Most priests and pastors like me have been threatened, intimidated, humiliated, detained, beaten and deported," Pastor Brytsyn said per The Christian Post. "Some priests and believers are still in Russian prisons today. Some of them were killed."

The Kyiv-based Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF) said that as of October 18, at least 660 religious sites had been damaged or looted during the invasion, adding that at least 206 of those sites were evangelical churches.

"In reality, Russian society, and the Kremlin, to be more precise, hates any type of Christian denomination, bar the Orthodox Church," Cherniiavskyi said.

Obviously this is trying to sway American Protestants away from supporting Russia. But I think it is insightful given the frequent E.O. championing that occurs on here. That’s why it’s not in Politics or Current Events.

[temporal1]

..
Obviously this is trying to sway American Protestants away from supporting Russia. But I think it is insightful given the frequent E.O. championing that occurs on here. That’s why it’s not in Politics or Current Events.

Is this the source you’re quoting?

“Why Russian separatists called an exorcist when they discovered a Ukrainian POW was an evangelical Christian”
https://i.chzbgr - sorry, wrong link
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian ... ian-2024-3

It’s a strange report to try to understand, i have no bias toward EO; if this report is true, is it representative?
i understand Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill stands by Putin (100%)?? ..

i can’t be surprised there are questions/mistrust wrt Western Protestants, or the West, at all, considering .. there are plenty of questions IN the West about secularized churches that pridefully embrace, promote, demand worship of carnal sin. This article describes they are lumping all Western Protestant churches together.

This report is extreme and reminds of history, i.e., of persecution by state churches.

[MaxPC]

A Ukrainian soldier said he was tortured by Russian separatists and forced to undergo an exorcism, partly because of his evangelical Christian faith.

Viktor Cherniiavskyi is now a first-person view (FPV) drone pilot, but he said he was a chaplain to evangelical Christians in the Ukrainian army in 2014 when Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula.

While serving as a volunteer in the city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, Cherniiavskyi said he was captured by Russian-aligned forces.

During his 25 days of captivity, Cherniiavskyi said he was held in a basement cell in a prison in Luhansk, where he said he was beaten with a baseball bat, had unloaded pistols shot at his head, and was repeatedly Tasered.

When his captors became aware of his evangelical faith, a Russian Orthodox priest from Moscow was called to carry out a form of exorcism on him, he told Business Insider.

"When the priest tried to cast demons out of me, he gave me two reasons: First, because of my 'black eyes.' Second, because I'm an evangelical Christian. Crossing his hands, he pushed me to kiss the crucifix," Cherniiavskyi said.

He added that the Kremlin had a particular hatred of Protestants and evangelical Christians and that Moscow saw anyone affiliated with US churches as "foreign agents."

From same article:

Ukraine has Europe's largest evangelical Christian community, wrote Yermak. About 800,000 to 1 million Ukrainian evangelicals attend Protestant churches on Sundays.

Yermak called Russia's religious oppression at home and in Ukraine a "systematic assault."

He argued that US evangelicals need to override the pro-Putin narrative among some conservative evangelicals and come to Ukraine's defense.

Quoting Apostle Paul, Yermak called on US evangelicals to "extend goodwill to all, especially to fellow believers."

A report by the Atlantic Council said that Russia's occupation of parts of Ukraine was threatening Ukraine's religious pluralism.

Russia has banned certain religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, for example.

Earlier this year, a Russian court sentenced nine Jehovah's Witnesses to substantial prison terms for "extremism," adding to a series of jailings and interrogations of believers since the ban was introduced in 2017, Reuters reported.

Religious sites have also been targeted since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as Putin's forces have sought to eradicate Ukrainian culture.

Some of the roughly 30,000 books in the library of the Protestant Tavriski Christian Institute in Kherson were looted and thrown in the trash, per local reports.

In a video testimony, Pastor Dmitry Bodyu of the Word of Life Church in Melitopol, occupied by Putin's forces in the first weeks of the war, added, "The Russian military seized our church building. I was imprisoned and told that I would soon be killed. For local evangelical believers under Russian occupation, a deadly threat remains."

Bodyu told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth that his Russian captors thought he was a spy, which is seemingly a common occurrence.

Rev. Mykhailo Brytsyn, pastor of the Grace Church of Evangelical Christians Melitopol, told a summit International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington DC in February: "Most priests and pastors like me have been threatened, intimidated, humiliated, detained, beaten and deported," Pastor Brytsyn said per The Christian Post. "Some priests and believers are still in Russian prisons today. Some of them were killed."

The Kyiv-based Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF) said that as of October 18, at least 660 religious sites had been damaged or looted during the invasion, adding that at least 206 of those sites were evangelical churches.

"In reality, Russian society, and the Kremlin, to be more precise, hates any type of Christian denomination, bar the Orthodox Church," Cherniiavskyi said.

Obviously this is trying to sway American Protestants away from supporting Russia. But I think it is insightful given the frequent E.O. championing that occurs on here. That’s why it’s not in Politics or Current Events.

I can attest from first hand experience that the Russian Orthodox clergy deplore the Greek Orthodox. I think this situation requires much prayer.

[Neto]

The Mennonite Brethren church house in a now Russian-controlled area of Ukraine was confiscated, and is now in use by the invaders.

[RZehr]

For example, in November 2022, Russian forces in the small Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka abducted evangelical deacon Anatoliy Prokopchuk and his 19-year-old son.

Days later in a nearby forest, the two were found dead with signs of torture so brutal, their friends said they were “mutilated beyond recognition,” according to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine.

Several evangelicals who thankfully survived torture have shared their horrifying stories.

Azat Azatyan, a Baptist children’s pastor who helps oppressed Christians flee Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, was captured by Russian security services on his 25th evacuation trip. After dragging him to a basement, where he spent the next 43 days, they put a bag over his head, handcuffed his hands to his legs and connected electrical wires to his genitals.

While torturing him, Azatyan said, they “mocked me” for being a Baptist. To Russians, “Baptists are American spies,” and they “beat me so badly that they thought that I was dead.” Azatyan survived: “I truly knew that my God was with me.”

Baptist Pastor Oleksandr Salfetnikov was abducted by Russians in May 2022, driven to a detention center, thrown in a cell, interrogated and beaten for three days. He said his captors were convinced that “all evangelical believers are American spies” and wanted him to confess.

His arm was broken. He couldn’t walk. His body was swollen. He collapsed and fell unconscious. When he woke up, he was in the basement of a medical institution, with his wife by his side. He survived, and after the Ukrainians won back control of Balaklia, he returned to his church.

Apparently, torturing and killing individuals isn’t enough. The Russians have also gone after entire congregations.

On Sept. 11, 2022, 20 armed Russian soldiers burst in on the worship service at Grace Evangelical Church in the occupied city of Melitopol, the Rev. Mikhaylo Brytsyn told the PBS NewsHour. One soldier took over the stage, telling women and children to go downstairs to be fingerprinted. The Russians copied worshippers’ IDs and took photos.

“It’s horrifying to think about what they can do with this information,” Brytsyn said.

Other Christian churches have suffered similar crackdowns, and scores across occupied areas have been shut down. Under surveillance and risking persecution, those believers are now forced to worship in secret, in their homes.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-killi ... 38888.html

Again, obviously this is trying to sway American Protestants away from supporting Russia. But I think it is insightful given the frequent E.O. championing that occurs on here.

[Josh]

The “caesaropapism” is probably what turns me off to EO the most.