Supporters of the ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’, aided by the police, seize church building of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Berezdiv.

DECR Communication service, 28.05.2024.

In the village of Berezdiv in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine on 26^th May 2024 an aggressive crowd of supporters of the ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’ seized the Church of the Great Martyr Dimitrius of Thessalonica. As reported by the site of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, the church building was stormed within an hour with the help of the police.

By mid-day it became known that representatives of the OCU were heading for the church building. The parishioners gathered to defend their holy church and stood before its door so that it would not be desecrated.

However, the police pushed to one side the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and stood guard by the entrance into the building, thereby allowing the aggressive activists of the schismatic structure to break down the door.

Eye-witnesses report that it was the wife of the village elder who headed the proceedings. She broke down the door and with another man sawed off the locks of the door. Then the vandals entered the Church of Saint Dimitrius. All of this was observed by a ‘cleric’ of the OCU.

At the beginning of March 2024 the religious community of the Church of Saint Dimitrius of Thessalonica in the village of Berezdiv, led by Father Pyotr Yatsyk, declared their loyalty to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and reported that the parish council had not called any meeting to announce any change of jurisdiction.

Print publication

Supporters of the ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’, aided by the police, seize church building of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Berezdiv.

Patriarch

Department Chairman

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Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons