UOC KP activists in Volyn try to grab the temple from OCU supporters

Temple of the UOC in honor of the Holy Blessed Princes Boris and Gleb in the village of Shklin

On March 8-9, 2019, several OCU adherents arbitrarily changed the locks at the temple of Boris and Gleb in the village of Shklin in Gorokhov district, Volyn region. The Boris-Gleb temple is under the jurisdiction of the UOC but its rector Archpriest Alexander Fidrin has recently announced he is leaving for the protectorate of the "bishop" of the new church structure Gabriel Krizina. When the locks were being changed, Archpriest Alexander was absent from the temple.

Sources of the UOJ report that the activists of the OCU sealed the doors of the temple and one of them even used the seal of the district public organization, which he himself heads.

The religious community of the temple learned about the incident with an outcry. Eventually, the community members somehow managed to come to an agreement and get back the keys from the church.

It turned out that the raiders were dissatisfied with the choice of the rector of the temple – they wanted to get under the banner of another "bishop" of the OCU Mikhail Zinkevich, who was one of the most influential contenders for the post of "presiding officer" of the new church structure but was forced to retreat under the pressure of "honorary patriarch" Filaret Denisenko. "Bishop" Gabriel, who has already changed several times his religious affiliation, carries no credibility with the activists-invaders. During his career he managed to be the archimandrite of the canonical Church, the "bishop" of the UAOC (where he passed to at the beginning of September last year, just before the autocephalous epic), and now he is the "hierarch" of the recently created OCU.

The dissatisfaction of some of the followers of the new church structure in the village of Shklin was also shared by the Volyn "diocese" of the OCU/Kiev Patriarchate. On March 10, 2019, a representative of the UOC KP with choristers from a nearby town paid a visit to Shklin. When asked by the local residents about the purpose of the visit, the "priest" replied that he wanted to "congratulate" the rector. As a result of "congratulations" nobody served in the temple.

The rector of the church of Sts Boris and Gleb, who until this time had led the parish for a long while, declared irately he was returning to the jurisdiction of the UOC, said the UOJ source.

According to preliminary data, at least 30 parishioners from the religious community of the temple, regardless of the decision of the priest, declared loyalty to the UOC.

The UOJ monitors the development of events.

Recall that in November 2018, bishop of the UAOC Gabriel Krizina appealed to the public to give to Phanar the ancient monastery of Archangel Michael in the Khust diocese of the UOC. "Dear countrymen-Transcarpathians! I believe it is relevant to ask Patriarch Bartholomew, the Most Holy Patriarch of Constantinople, to restore a Stavropegion in the Holy Transcarpathia, which existed from the fourteenth century – a glorious monastery in honor of the Archangel Michael in Grushevo village in Tiachiv region (there is such a monastery there). Let's restore historical memory and truth,” he wrote then in Facebook.

Mikhail Zinkevich, in turn, stated that he did not see significant differences between Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians. At the same time, he does not consider the differences of doctrines to be significant. "We are separated by the doctrine, some kind of position in minor things but they are trivial. Otherwise we are one," he stressed.

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