A new temple of UOC consecrated in Kotiuzhiny to replace the seized one

Metropolitan Sergius of Ternopol and Kremenets at the consecration of the temple in vlg. Kotiuzhiny

The temple, built on a private territory as part of the Favor charitable foundation programme, is named after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, reports a UOJ correspondent.

The consecration of the new church finally put an end to the inter-faith conflict in Kotiuzhyny. As reported earlier, on February 11, 2017, with the support of the representatives of the "Right Sector of Ternopol Region" who came to the village, the Kiev Patriarchate followers seized the local church of the St. Stephen Protomartyr religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The community of the UOC moved to the church house, which remained at its disposal, but it was not given a chance to serve quietly: they were attacked twice, robbed and have their door locks damaged. In the end, the house was also taken over by the Kiev Patriarchate, and the statutory documents of the legal entity – the parish of the UOC – were re-registered in favor of raiders from the UOC KP.

"Now approximately the same number of people go to our church and the seized church, although according to the results of the poll, they stated that "the supporters of the Kiev Patriarchate" are twice as many," says the priest of the UOC, Protopriest Alexander Kantitsky.

Immediately after the takeover of the temple in the village, the community members began to talk about the necessity to build a new church. For this, one of the parishioners donated his own land. Then the community applied for aid and in less than a year, not waiting for the end of the trial for its status and with substantial support from the Kiev Metropolitanate of the UOC and CF "Favor", they constructed a new prayer house.

As reported by the UOJ, earlier the "Favor" charitable foundation, which operates with the blessing of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry and the Holy Synod of the UOC, has launched a new project – the construction of a temple in vlg. Kotiuzhiny of the Ternopol region.

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