I note that this took place yesterday, on the Feast Day of St. Vladimir, which I wrote about yesterday as a new "national holiday" for the Russians. It could--possibly-- have something to do with hostility in Ukraine between the pro-Moscow Orthodox and pro-Kiev Orthodox. But that's just something that crosses one's mind. I hope not.
Moscow (ENI). An explosive device set off at an Orthodox church in eastern Ukraine, killed a nun and injured eight other people, as Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church was concluding an eight-day visit to the former Soviet republic. The device exploded in Zaporozhye on 28 July near a bench inside the entrance of the Svyato-Pokrovsky Church, or Church of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God, where an 80-year-old nun named Lyudmila was sitting. She died later after being taken to hospital, with 40 percent burns and broken bones, Reportyor Zaporozhya, an Internet publication reported. Police said it seemed likely the bomb was homemade and had contained between 300 and 400 grams of the explosive TNT (trinitrotoluene). Police checked all the churches in Zaporozhye on 29 July for explosives, the diocese of Zaporozhye said. {Copyright Ecumenical New International, reprinted by permission]
Lord have mercy.
Posted by: Patty Joanna | July 29, 2010 at 11:29 PM
When Christians shed the blood of their brothers and sisters, it brings shame to His Name.
Posted by: Sibyl | July 30, 2010 at 06:59 AM
Something tells me it was not a fellow Orthodox who did it, though I probably know less about all this than you. (I'm Protestant.) From what I've read, there are others in that part of the world who are not happy with the new national day.
Posted by: Gordon Davis | August 02, 2010 at 12:57 AM