God's Glory Church

In occupied Lugansk, militants are trying the elderly pastor of the Evangelical Church of Christian-Baptists “The Way of Salvation” Anatoly Tolstenko – the occupation authorities accuse the priest of conducting divine services.

The militants also drew up so-called “protocols” against two parishioners of the evangelical church “The Way of Salvation,” where Anatoly Tolstenko served, volunteer and pastor of the Protestant church Serey Kosyak told the Vchasno news agency.

According to Sergei Kosyak, Pastor Anatoly Tolstenko is 82 years old.

“I received a message about the ongoing trial via instant messenger,” said Sergei Kosyak. — They wrote to me that today in Lugansk there will be a trial of Pastor Anatoly Fedorovich Tolstenko, he is 82 years old. The reason for the trial is because the pastor is conducting worship services. A report was drawn up against two more brothers. The Church asks for support in prayer.”
Militants in the Luhansk region began open persecution of all evangelical churches in October last year. It was then that the occupation authorities refused to “re-register” all church communities of evangelical Christians – Baptists, Pentecostals, Adventists.

The formal basis for the refusal to “re-register” was the negative conclusions of the so-called “religious studies examination”, which all religious organizations in ORDLO are required to undergo, except for the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In fact, the refusal to re-register meant a ban on any religious activity for these communities.

It also applies not only to services in houses of worship, but also to home meetings of believers. Christians were warned that they would face fines and arrest if they violated the ban.

It was this ban on worship that was violated by the elderly pastor of the “banned” evangelical church in occupied Lugansk.
Let us recall that the Institute for Religious Freedom previously stated that the push for re-registration was a reason for the occupation authorities to collect data on evangelical churches and their members in order to continue their practice of religious persecution in a more targeted manner. At the same time, the very idea of ​​re-registration of religious communities is used by pro-Russian separatists as a screen to create a guise of “legality” for their crimes against believers of various faiths and for their attempts to establish total control over the population of the occupied territories.

Source: vchasnoua.com