"A Seventh-day Adventist pastor is missing after being abducted by gunmen during a communion service last Sabbath at a church in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine, local church leaders said.
Unidentified men carrying machine guns and wearing camouflage burst into the church in the city of Horlivka on September 27 and seized Pastor Sergei Litovchenko, the Ukrainian Union Conference said.
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They interrupted the worship service and forced the worshipers to disperse,” it said in a statement. “They ordered Pastor Sergei Litovchenko to close the church, forced him into a car, and drove away in an unknown direction.”
The incident occurred as the pastor was leading the congregation in a communion service in the small, rectangular church located at 1 Ulitsa Horlovskoi Divizii. Adventist churches around the world commemorated Jesus’ Last Supper on September 27 as is customary on the last Sabbath of each quarter.
The Horlivka gunmen justified their actions by saying that "this is Orthodox land and there is no place for various sects here," the conference statement said.
They refused to say who they were and what right that had to disrupt the church’s activities, replying bluntly to church members’ questions, “It’s none of your business.”
The Ukrainian Union Conference was trying to establish the whereabouts of the pastor." ANN
"The Seventh Day Adventist Church in Ukraine is an officially registered Protestant church, which provides assistance to residents affected by armed conflict in the east within the charity project “The Angel of East”. The parishioners collect food products, clothing, and basic necessities for the needy, conduct works to restore living premises" RISU
Unidentified men carrying machine guns and wearing camouflage burst into the church in the city of Horlivka on September 27 and seized Pastor Sergei Litovchenko, the Ukrainian Union Conference said.
“
The incident occurred as the pastor was leading the congregation in a communion service in the small, rectangular church located at 1 Ulitsa Horlovskoi Divizii. Adventist churches around the world commemorated Jesus’ Last Supper on September 27 as is customary on the last Sabbath of each quarter.
The Horlivka gunmen justified their actions by saying that "this is Orthodox land and there is no place for various sects here," the conference statement said.
They refused to say who they were and what right that had to disrupt the church’s activities, replying bluntly to church members’ questions, “It’s none of your business.”
The Ukrainian Union Conference was trying to establish the whereabouts of the pastor." ANN
"The Seventh Day Adventist Church in Ukraine is an officially registered Protestant church, which provides assistance to residents affected by armed conflict in the east within the charity project “The Angel of East”. The parishioners collect food products, clothing, and basic necessities for the needy, conduct works to restore living premises" RISU
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Matthew 23:34