Department for External Church Relations
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Ukrainian police say that by seizing UOC church in Maliatyntsi OCU schismatics “exercised their legal right”
DECR Communication Service, 25/03/2025
The regional police supported the actions of the raiders who had seized St. Nicholas Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Maliatyntsi village, Chernivtsi region, Ukraine.
According to the Union of Orthodox Journalists, several weeks prior to the seizure, on 2nd February 2025, the OCU activists held a meeting on the “transfer” of St. Nicholas Church in Maliatyntsi to the schismatic OCU. As eyewitnesses reported, during the meeting 114 parishioners voted for the church to remain under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and 74 activists for the “transfer to the OCU.” However, the raiders forged documents to leave the parishioners’ votes out of the count.
On the night of 21st March, a group of the schismatics forced entry into the territory of St. Nicholas Church in Maliatyntsi. As Dozor Telegram channel reports, they cut the locks off and broke into the church. “According to on-the-spot reports, the raiders brought with them a team of men from other localities. The man in charge of the seizure was a notorious raider and OCU cleric, Herheliuk. That thief used to work at the Chernivtsi Regional Administration as a state registrar,” the post says.
The policemen standing in front of the church prevented members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s community from entering the building.
After the seizure, the raiders locked themselves inside the church and spent the whole night there. Later, under the police’s protection, they installed their own locks on the church doors.
The Chernivtsi region police gave a comment to Suspilne media, stating that by seizing the church the OCU representatives had “exercised their legal right to use the religious building and the plot of land.” “The UOC representatives who were against that arrived at the scene,” the press secretary of the National Police of the region, Karolina Marysheva, said.
The following comment was left on the webpage of St. Nicholas Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: “We all know well what happened at the meeting, who won and who left with their eyes cast down. It is also well known that everything they build is based on lies. But as for the journalists writing this nonsense, it should be pointed out that, according to the rules, before publishing such reports they should have come to the scene and hear both sides out.”
The parishioners continue to pray outside their church.
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