UOC community in Nichohivka continues to exist despite church seizure

Church in the village of Nichohivka seized by OCU activists. Photo: Tochynskyi's Facebook page

The UOC community in the village of Nichohivka, Manevychi district, has been preserved despite the seizure of its church. This was reported on January 26 by Archpriest Oleh Tochynskyi, spokesman for the Volyn Eparchy, on his Facebook page.

According to him, after many hours of pressure, more than a hundred people – including not only local residents – forced the rector of St. Nicholas Church, Fr. Tarasiy Bernyk, to hand over the keys to the church.

“As always, numerical superiority was on the side of the supporters of the UOC-KP (OCU), because the crowd consisted not only of committed supporters of the UOC-KP, but also of those who are ‘up for any kind of commotion’ and come to church once a year. The activists were supported by the local UOC-KP dean Andriy Zakydalskyi and the village head.”

Fr. Oleh noted that the police did not respond at all to the priest’s appeals and requests for help.

“When Fr. Tarasiy said that his constitutional right to freedom of movement was being restricted, one of the police officers present replied, ‘We have no right to interfere,’” the Volyn Eparchy spokesman said. “A crowd surrounded the priest, pulled at his clothes, reached into his pockets looking for the keys. Unfortunately, the first blood was spilled. A conflict that, one might say, came straight out of the pages of the Gospel broke out between a brother and sister. The former was on the side of the UOC-KP, the latter stood with the UOC. As a result, the brother raised his hand against his sister and broke her nose.”

At the same time, about 20 parishioners remained with their rector and tried to protect him. Fr. Oleh stressed that the UOC community in Nichohivka has been preserved and continues to exist.

“Before this conflict, the priest collected 43 signatures from members of the UOC religious community who refused to change their confessional affiliation,” the priest said. Archpriest Oleh added that 101 people voted for the “transfer” in Nichohivka – members of the territorial community, not the religious community.

As the UOJ previously reported, on January 26, 2019, in the village of Nichohivka in Manevychi district, supporters of the OCU staged a scuffle in the street to prevent the rector from entering the church.

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