In Krasnoselka, the family of UOC priest being evicted from church house

Krasnoselka officials are evicting a priest, along with his wife and two young children, from the church house

Priest Pavel Taran, the rector of the church of Saint John the Theologian, Apostle and Evangelist in the village of Krasnoselka of the Bershad district, Vinnitsa region, has served at the parish for almost two years. On April 8, 2019, he was sent four personalized notifications from the Executive Committee of the Krasnoselka Village Council that he and his family members were deprived of official registration to the church house where they live, reports the press service of the Tulchin Eparchy of the UOC.

The Krasnoselka officials explained their decision by the lack of documents that would confirm the priest’s right to reside and own the property in the village. Notifications for the loss of the right to reside in Krasnoselka were signed by O. Gondaruk, an inspector for work with young people and vulnerable groups of the population.

According to the press service, the right of the UOC rural community to the church and the church house, by verbal agreement with local supporters of the OCU, will be considered in court. Currently, the temple is sealed by the head and is constantly guarded by the police. At present, Father Pavel is serving in a small church of the neighbouring village included in his parish.

The priest considers such actions by the local authorities to be inhuman, from the position of Orthodox Christianity – sinful, and from a legal point of view – a criminal offence.

Father Pavel is convinced that the head of the village council, Ivan Pustovit, and a number of officials from the OCU adherents are exerting pressure on him as a father with many children in order to force him to change his religious convictions and go to the unrecognized OCU. He did not intend to hush up the situation and decided to appeal to the Bershad district prosecutor’s office by attaching notifications about the deprivation of his registration to the church house to the lawsuit of his religious community of the UOC.

We recall that on February 14, 2019, the religious community of the UOC of Krasnoselka appealed to the district police with a request to open a criminal case against the chairman of the village council Ivan Pustovit: on January 29 he initiated a village meeting, the participants of which made a number of absurd decisions on behalf of the religious community in order to transfer the church to the OCU.

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