ARMED MEN IN GORLOVKA, UKRAINE ABDUCTED ADVENTIST PASTOR
Monday, September 29, 2014 at 10:10PM ARMED MEN IN GORLOVKA, UKRAINE ABDUCTED ADVENTIST PASTOR FROM HIS HOUSE OF WORSHIP DURING HOLY COMMUNION
On Saturday, September 27, in Gorlovka (Horlivka) Ukraine, located in the Donetsk Region, currently controlled by the so-called People’s Republic of Donetsk (DNR), militants in camouflage brandishing machine guns burst into the house of worship of the Seventh Day Adventists, where the sacrament of Holy Communion was being conducted. They ordered Pastor Sergey Litovchenko to shut down the church, forced him into a car, and drove away in an unknown direction.
The attackers justified their actions by saying that "this is an Orthodox land and there is no place for sects." When the believers asked them who they were, what gave them the right to carry out these actions, and asked them to produce documents, the armed men rudely replied that "this is none of your business.”
The leadership of the East Mission is doing what it can to find out the whereabouts of the abducted pastor.
The Seventh Day Adventist Church in Ukraine is an officially registered Protestant church, and operates the charity project Eastern Angel, which assists people affected by armed conflict in the east of the country. Believers collect food, clothing, essential goods, and carry out the reconstruction of housing that has been damaged or destroyed in the fighting.