Cyprian priest meets with communities of seized temples of Ternopol

The priest of the Cyprus Church, Archimandrite Nectarios, visited the parishes of Ternopol Eparchy, affected by church raiding. Photo: Ternopol Eparchy

On June 8, 2019, Archimandrite Nectarios (Bakopoulos), secretary of the Tamasos Diocese of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, arrived at Ternopol eparchy, accompanied by Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC, reports the press service of the eparchy.

During the visit, the clerics visited three communities in the villages of Matveyevka, Malye Dederkali and Liudvishche of Shumsk district.

The believers received guests with great joy, and the priest of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Nectarios, addressed the words of support to the believers and presented them with icons.

Father Nectarios noted that he had come to Ukraine to see firsthand what he had heard only from the media before, and to learn how Orthodox Christians, whose churches were subjected to church raiding, are living.

The main purpose of the visit of the clergyman is to support canonical communities in difficult conditions.

At the same time, while communicating with people, he got even more entrenched in the true Orthodox faith, because he saw what bright and love-filled faces believers had despite the difficulties.

On June 9, the priests are going to visit the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra, where they will take part in the Divine Liturgy. On the same day, the guests plan to visit the village of Roztoky, Kremenets district, in order to prayerfully support the UOC believers there.

As reported by the UOJ, the priest of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Nectarios (Bakopoulos), is touring the Western Dioceses of the UOC. A day earlier, he paid a visit to the Volyn Eparchy of the UOC, where he visited parishes affected by the OCU-committed raiding. The secretary of the Tamasos Diocese of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Nectarios, expressed support for the believers of the Volyn Eparchy of the UOC, who were affected by the use of force from the OCU supporters.

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