Department for External Church Relations
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UOC church was seized in Sokyriany, Chernivtsi region
DECR Communication Service, 10/02/2024
On 7th of February 2024, activists of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine seized the Church of Saints Peter of Paul of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Sokyriany city, Chernivtsi region, Ukraine, website of the Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) reports.
As the UOJ correspondent found out, around 8 p.m. several dozen people led by the OCU “chaplain” Roman Hryshchuk cut the lock off on the door to a utility room of Ss Peter and Paul Church. Through that room the perpetrators, including women, got into the church sanctuary.
When inside, the shismatics celebrated a “moleben.” What is noteworthy is that present at the scene were police officers who instead of preventing the perpetrators from cutting the locks off helped them inspect the sanctuary.
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The first attempted seizure of the church took place in autumn 2023. On 12th of November, a group of some twenty people tried to seize the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. None of the perpetrators had been a member of the local parish community or had been seen in the church before. They were let into the church territory, but not inside. The police prevented a clash and the OCU activists had to withdraw. Several weeks prior to the incident, the local territorial community supported by the OCU chaplains who had arrived in Chernivtsi held a vote at the city square for the church’s transfer to the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
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