In Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine on the night of April 26, unknown attacked the house of the St. Andrew’s temple rector. This was reported in Dnepropetrovsk Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate.
“In the second half of the night father Anatoly heard a dog barking in the yard. He thought something urgent happened. Sometimes people call in the middle of night – someone dies in the hospital, and needs the sacrament. That is why the priest came out”, says a statement.
Criminals immediately struck their victim blow to the head. The priest regained conscience in his own house with hands and feet tied. His wife was also tied. The attackers demanded that the owners of the house to give them all the money.
“The temple complex is still under construction, probably the attackers expected to find large funds intended for the construction of the church”, told in the diocese.
In addition, the priest and his wife were tortured, then the priest was thrown into the trunk of the car. A short distance from the town the priest was pulled out of the car, tortures continued. After he lost consciousness, the attackers left him in the woods, and left.
The priest managed to get to the nearest houses only in the morning. He asked for help from the people who helped him to return to his home. There the priest found the body of his wife Irina, who died of wounds sustained during tortures. Father Anatoly himself was later taken to the intensive care unit in serious condition.