Drabinko blesses to seize temple from the community having returned to UOC

Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) with the "authorized representatives" of Morozovka village. Photo: Facebook

The former UOC Metropolitan, Aleksander (Drabinko), “blessed” to seal the church in the village of Morozovka, while Fr. Nikolai Brega, who had returned from the OCU to the UOC, was “dismissed” from the post of rector. The "hierarch" of the OCU reported about it on his Facebook page.

The publication states that Drabinko received in his residence two men, V. Lysenko and G. Popovich, whom he called "authorized representatives of the Orthodox religious community of the Holy Dormition parish of the village of Morozovka". It is these people, according to the “hierarch” of the OCU, who have the right to speak on behalf of all the parishioners, but not those who had come with their rector before to repent and ask for return to the canonical Church.

According to Drabinko, the decision of the senior priest to return to the UOC was made "contrary to the decision of the participants in the parish meeting of their religious community of March 1 of the current year, because the overwhelming majority of the parishioners resolutely wish to be in the bosom of the Church of Ukraine".

Metropolitan Alexander said that “since all the property of the parish is owned by the aforementioned local religious community”, he “blessed” to seal the temple and dismiss Archpriest Nikolai Brega “from his posts of rector of the Holy Dormition parish of Morozovka village, Baryshevka District, Kiev Region, and dean of Baryshevka deanery of Pereyaslav-Vishnevoye Diocese of the OCU”.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Alexander (Drabinko), the former metropolitan of Vishnevoye, commented on the news that priest Nikolai Brega and the community had returned from the schism back to the canonical Church.

In particular, Drabinko said that Fr. Nikolai "repents like chickens from the ‘Animal Farm’ by Orwell and called repentance itself "falling on his knees in front of the khan in a white hat".

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