Residents of Zhvan village recall their pro-OCU signatures

Holy Assumption temple of Zhvan village of Murovanye Kurilovtsy district in Vinnitsa region

As it became known to the UOJ, on April 21, 2019, 12 residents of Zhvan village, Murovanye Kurilovtsy district, Vinnitsa region, withdrew their signatures from the list for transferring the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the OCU.

In January of this year, the church community held a meeting and expressed its decision to remain in the UOC. The minutes and other relevant documents were submitted for registration to the Office for Nationalities and Religion of the Vinnitsa Regional State Administration.

At the meeting of the territorial community out of 117 present 110 also spoke in favor of remaining in the UOC. However, local resident Vasily Gnatiuk, on his own initiative and under the direction of the schismatics, began collecting signatures in the village for transferring the church to the OCU and also submitted a list to the Religious Department.

Recall, the villagers revealed frauds in this list made this fact public. Gnatiuk began to threaten them and the rector of the temple.

“Out of the 17 people I spoke with on election day, 12 immediately withdrew their signatures,” says a native of Zhvan, Liliya Kolesnik. “In the list of Gnatiuk for the OCU there are 102 signatures, three of those villagers died but their signatures are available there. Five more people told me that they also want to withdraw their signatures.”

People wrote a collective statement and on April 22, Lilia Kolesnik submitted it to the Office for Nationalities and Religion of the Vinnitsa Regional State Administration.

“We will continue to be interested in the opinion of the villagers,” says Lilia. “I hope that many will understand that they are being deceived by the OCU proponents. I really hope that the Lord will not leave us and everything will be fine."

As the UOJ reported, in the village of Zhvan, Murovanye Kurilovtsy district in Vinnitsa region, activists with the help of manipulations want to take away the temple of the canonical Church. Liliya Kolesnik, the Vinnitsa resident, was threatened by telephone immediately after she made a post on Facebook on April 6. The woman asked to prayerfully help Father Vladimir, the rector of the Assumption church. She got the information that they want to transfer this temple in her native village to the OCU and the priest is menaced with having big problems and serious troubles.

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