Officials and OCU activists seize UOC church in Chetvertnia

The Savior Transfiguration Church of the UOC in the village of Chetvertnia. Photo: UOC

On August 20, 2019, in the village of Chetvertnia of the Manevichi district, a commission consisting of the officials from the Volyn Regional State Administration, accompanied by the police, is “handing over” the Saviour Transfiguration Church of the UOC to local supporters of the OCU, reports Archpriest Oleg Tochinsky, a cleric of the Volyn Eparchy, on his Facebook page.

“Right now, in the village of Chetvertnia of the Manevichi district, representatives of the Volyn RSA, law enforcement bodies and the OCU are trying to seize the Saviour Transfiguration Church of the UOC. A commission came from the Regional State Administration to “hand over” the church to local supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who illegally re-registered the UOC community and, without breaking the protection agreement with the old owners, concluded a new one with the regional authorities,” the clergyman describes the situation.

According to him, in the presence of the RSA representatives and the police, supporters of the OCU cut locks from the church doors. In response to the demands to counteract what is happening, law enforcement officers suggested writing a statement.

Fr. Oleg explains that there are more believers of the UOC in the village but the administrative resource is on the side of the opponents.

The Saviour Transfiguration Church community asks for prayers.

We recall that on May 6, 2019, for the first time since 2012, Lutsk officials arrived in the village of Chetvertnia in the Manevichi district with an audit: in the midst of a church conflict, officials said that they needed to check for old icons. However, the UOC community did not agree to open the temple: people were afraid that the raiders who had already hung their locks on the church and the bell-tower would take advantage of this.

As reported earlier, on July 11, 2019, the religious communities of the canonical Church in the Volyn region were obliged to re-register to the OCU. Mandatory re-registration should be done even for those communities that previously submitted documents that they do not want to go to the OCU.

Read also