In Mnishin OCU activists beat UOC faithful and seize church

In the village of Mnishin, Rovno region, supporters of the OCU blocked access to the church territory for the UOC believers

As it became known, on the night of May 12, 2019, the OCU activists came to the territory of the Holy Protection Church of the village of Mnishin in the Goshcha district to cut locks on it.

“Together with the parishioners, we came in the morning to hold a church service but were already being waited at the church gate by some men, who had blocked the passage to the territory,” comments Archpriest Vladimir Furmanchuk, rector of the Holy Protection Church of the village of Mnishin. “That day, my parishioners were predominately women, who couldn’t oppose strong men. The church raiders felt their superiority and, when the clash began, beat the women without hesitation, pushing away the old women.”

At 8:00 in the morning, a priest of the Kiev Patriarchate and choir members from the village of Podoliany arrived in Mnishin. Skirmishes between the UOC believers and raiders began. According to the witnesses, the men from the OCU beat and pushed the women, several men, the UOC faithful, were seriously injured. The police, which arrived on call, stood by and did not interfere.

“My father, Viktor Gavaziuk had his jaw dislocated and his legs bruised,” comments Victoria, a UOC believer. “He defended me from the attackers, who were snatching up the phone to which I was filming lawlessness and hitting me in the head.”

The supporters of the newly created structure managed to block the passage of the UOC community to the church. Believers were forced to worship at the gate of the temple.

According to local residents, the prayer in Ukrainian of the OCU cleric was very short, after that the priest of the UOC KP and his choir left the Holy Protection Church, while the OCU supporters remained to guard the church, on which they hung their locks.

Now both communities are in the territory of the church, the interfaith confrontation in Mnishin continues.

As the UOJ reported, earlier the Goshcha District Court upheld the claim of the UOC religious community of the village of Mnishin, Rovno region, to find the police inaction unlawful. Previously, none of the statements of UOC believers about the offenses committed by OCU supporters in the territory of the Holy Protection Church had been taken into account by law enforcement agencies. The lawyers of the Rovno Eparchy of the UOC have already prepared a number of lawsuits, both against officials and individual citizens who were directly involved in raiding and repeated beatings of UOC believers.

Read also