Covert Semen Discovery
In the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), a region in Ukraine, a law passed in 2018 allows authorities to discriminate against non-Orthodox religious communities. This discrimination has been a worrying trend in the occupied Ukrainian territories, where numerous reports indicate brutal and ruthless persecution of Christians.
Church buildings have been systematically destroyed or severely damaged, and church leaders have been tortured, raped, imprisoned, abducted, murdered, and disappeared. The Ukrainian Pentecostal Church, Evangelical and Baptist churches, and the Seventh-day Adventists have all been targeted as 'extremists'.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, despite its partial distancing from Moscow after May 2022, has also faced accusations and suppression. Various Christian clergy and believers of all confessions have experienced persecution and repression.
The prayer for 'hidden seeds' in the occupied territories of Ukraine is a reference to the hope for future growth and renewal, reminiscent of a prayer by a young teacher named Comenius during the Thirty Years' War. Comenius, a member of the Unitas Fratrum, lost his wife and child and had to flee from hostile soldiers. Fifty years after his death, refugees from Moravia and Bohemia found their way to Saxony, in modern Germany, where they grew into the missionary community of Herrnhut.
Comenius' prayer for a 'hidden seed' in their homeland was answered with the growth of the Herrnhut community. Similarly, in the current context, the hope is that the persecuted Christian communities will find a way to endure and grow, despite the adversity they face.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion, more than 600 religious buildings have been reported damaged or destroyed by Russian missiles, suicide drones, artillery strikes, and other violence. Over one hundred Kingdom Halls of the Jehovah's Witnesses have been damaged, adding to the destruction of religious sites.
The situation has drawn international concern, with United Nations Special Rapporteurs expressing serious concern for the alleged enforced disappearances and torture of clergy in the occupied territories. However, Russian authorities have not responded.
Some western politicians, including Republican congresswoman Greene and Hungarian prime minister Orban, have openly supported Putin's professed crusade to 'save Christianity'. Vladimir Putin has justified his imminent 'special operation' against Ukraine by claiming that the overthrow of faith and traditional values in Ukraine is akin to 'pure Satanism'.
In a positive note, an Australian agronomist has reforested 50,000 square kilometres of forest in 40 years by pruning, protecting, and caring for hidden roots and seeds of former trees or existing bushes, which eventually grow into trees and improve agriculture and people's livelihoods. This serves as a reminder that even in the darkest of times, there is always hope for renewal and growth.
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