In Vinnitsa Diocese, ‘OCU’ supporters have seized a church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

DECR Communication Service, 24.05.2022.

On May 22, ‘OCU’ supporters disrupted the divine service at the church of the First Martyr Archdeacon Stephen in the village of Chernyatin, Zhmerinka district, Vinnitsa region. Shouting treats to the priest and parishioners, the activists drove the faithful out and held in the church what they call ‘a community assembly’, which voted in favour of ‘a switch’ to the disposal of the schismatic structure, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

Present at the meeting was the head of the territorial community, Vasiliy Malyarchuk, who was one of the initiators of ‘the switch’ to the ‘OCU’, as well as representatives of the police who did not interfere in the proceedings, while there were no parishioners of the church at that meeting.

After the vote, the ‘OCU’ supporters changed the door locks without permission and declared the church to be ‘their own’ notwithstanding the fact that it was built by the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the period from 2013-2019.

‘Among those who burst in the church on May 22 were nobody who would help to build it’, an eyewitness said, ‘The rector of the church has collected donations, scraping and saving and he himself took part in its construction, while the ‘OCU’ supporters came when everything was already provided and seized the church’. The Union of Orthodox Journalists reports.

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In Vinnitsa Diocese, ‘OCU’ supporters have seized a church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons