Russian Orthodox Church in Oxford Looted

Case information
Incident date
Country
United Kingdom
Place
Oxford
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Desecration
  • Theft
  • Vandalism of Church
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
  • Time/Place/Location
Reported to Police
  • Yes
Response of Local Authorities
  • Investigated
  • Unknown
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: Grant Whitty on Unsplash

On March 12th, the Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in Oxford was looted by unknown individuals who damaged the holy alter and stole other religious items such as crosses, and altar vessels. They also broke open the church safe and stole a collection of money that was intended for Ukraine. The police were investigating the crime.

The archpriest Stephen Platt wrote on Facebook: “I am sorry to announce that during the early hours of Saturday 12 March, the Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker in Oxford suffered a break-in. A great deal of damage was done, the holy altar was ransacked, and various objects were stolen, including holy relics, crosses, and altar vessels."

He continued “Fortunately, although the holy table was interfered with, the antimension and the tabernacle containing the Holy Gifts were left undisturbed. The church safe and money boxes were forced open with violence, and the proceeds of a collection to support refugees from Ukraine were stolen. The church bookstall was burgled and stock taken.”

Source; theguardian.com