OCU activists backed by officials seize two churches of UOC

Prayer standing in front of the Dubrovitsa DSA

On April 2, 2019, in the Dubrovitsa district of the Rovno region, with the participation of officials, OCU activists cut locks and illegally entered two temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In the Vinnitsa region, believers are awaiting provocations, reports the UOC Information and Education Department.

These actions are preceded by illegal registrations of the OCU communities in the regional administrations with the same registration data as the parishes of the UOC.

Proponents of the OCU seized the Holy Protection Church in the village of Berestye in the Dubrovitsa district, Rovno region, cutting locks on the doors, and illegally entered the building. The incident was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Dubrovitsa DSA A.G. Zadorozhny.

Two weeks ago, on March 15, activists broke down the doors to the altar and desecrated the shrine. The offence was witnessed by the Chairman of the DSA M. M. Petrushka. The purpose of the OCU activists, in their words, was to make an inventory of the property of the religious community of the UOC. However, they failed to answer the question of the parishioners, on what grounds they decided to check the property that did not belong to them.

The reason for the next attack on the church and its parishioners was the illegal receipt by the OCU supporters of the statute with the same registration data as the religious community of the UOC has. As it became known that on the initiative of the chairman of the Rovno Regional State Administration A. Muliarenko, similar statutes have been issued recently to OCU communities en masse.

“These actions have caused outrage among citizens of the Dubrovitsa district,” the press service of the Sarny-Polessye Eparchy stresses, “they are the discrimination of citizens of Ukraine on religious grounds by authorities openly violating the law.”

On the same day, at about 10 o'clock, OCU supporters cut locks on the Holy Protection Church of the UOC in the village of Malaya Liubasha of the Kostopol district.

We recall that on February 11, the Kostopol District Court ruled in favour of the Holy Protection Church of the UOC, which the OCU supporters, on the initiative of the local authorities, attempted to unlawfully "transfer" to the OCU, and ordered the officials of the Kostopol branch of the National Police to enter the case on illegal interference in the affairs of the religious community in the Single Registry of Pre-Trial Investigations.

On April 2, once again there was a gross interference in the life of the parish, while the law enforcers preferred not to interfere and not protect the rights of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

As noted earlier, on March 12, the clergy and believers of the Dubrovitsa Deanery of the Polessye-Sarny Eparchy of the UOC gathered for prayer standing in front of the Dubrovitsa District State Administration to protest over the violation of their constitutional right to freedom of religion.

A possible seizure of the temple in the Oratov district of the Vinnitsa region (vlg. Novozhivotov) is reported in the Tulchin Eparchy of the UOC.

“Already today, 02.04.2019, another attempt to seize the temple of the UOC religious community in the Oratov district of the Vinnitsa region (vlg. Novozhivotov) is planned, because by the order of the head of the Vinnitsa Regional State Administration Mr. Valery Koroviy, again a parallel community of the OCU was hastily registered at the legal address of the current large religious community of the UOC in the above-mentioned settlement,” the message says.

It is noted that in the event of an attempted seizure of its temple, the UOC religious community of vlg. Novozhivotov will legally and consistently respond to the anti-constitutional actions of Vinnitsa state authorities and local extremists before filing the relevant lawsuit claims.

“Anti-constitutional methods of struggle for the establishment of the OCU cannot but cause an increase in distrust for the current state power, which has already been said to the President of Ukraine P.A. Poroshenko by the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry, who stressed that ‘everything that is happening in villages in different regions of Ukraine negatively affects both the authority of the government and the authority of the President’," Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav comments on the situation.

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