13-day prayer of Vaslovovtsy believers for peace and Orthodox faith goes on

A round-the-clock prayer at the Holy Dormition Church in the village of Vaslovovtsy

The community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Vaslovovtsy of the Chernovtsy eparchy has been standing in prayer for 13 days, reports “Foma in Ukraine”.

It all began on January 27, when a meeting of the territorial community was held in the hall of the village educational complex, in which, as reported by local media, 194 people took part. They voted for the transfer of the Holy Dormition Orthodox community to the OCU.

On the same day, the believers held a meeting in the temple. Members of the community – 272 people – unanimously reaffirmed their loyalty to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Her Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine. They informed the executive bodies of local self-government and the OSCE Monitoring Mission in the Chernovtsy region about their decision.

Since January 27, believers have been going to the Holy Dormition Church both day and night. During the day, they read the entire Psalter, praying for peace in their village and in Ukraine.

On Sunday, February 3, the reading of the Psalter was interrupted only for the celebration of the festive Liturgy. A week of round-the-clock prayer has changed them, parishioners note.

“Seven days ago, fear, insecurity, tears, and confusion were read in the eyes of the parishioners because the fellow villagers who were baptized in the same Church suddenly found themselves among the persecutors of the Christian faith. A Liturgy has been served in this church since 1881, but such a service the temple has not known yet ...,” the community reports on its Facebook page.

By the way, the ancient Holy Dormition Church was built on the initiative of a distant relative of several of its current parishioners – an outstanding church, public and cultural figure, the first archbishop of Chernovtsy and the Metropolitan of Bukovina and Dalmatia, Vladyka Eugen (Hakman; 1793-1873). A native of the village, in his declining years, he wanted to build a new stone church on the site of an already dilapidated, wooden church, where he was baptized.

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