Radicals seize UOC temple in vlg. Griniava
The seizure of a UOC temple in the village of Griniava. Photo: a video screen
On December 8, 2019, in the village of Griniava of the Verkhovyna disrict, Ivano-Frankovsk region, OCU supporters took over the Holy Dormition Church of the UOC, reports the press service of the eparchy.
The seizure took place two hours after the end of Sunday's service, when the parishioners had already dispersed. The rector of the church, Archpriest Mikhail Dutchak, learned that the village council had gathered about twenty ATO members, who had been brought from the area.
The priest managed to gather a few parishioners, but they were not able to counteract the newcomers. Having used physical force, people in camouflage, with some of whom wearing balaclavas, broke into the temple.
It is known that the raiders stated that the community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was re-registered to the OCU and that is why this structure considers itself the owner of the church.
The Ivano-Frankovsk eparchy reported that in November this year local authorities illegally registered the UOC community to the OCU. The re-registration took place after a meeting of the territorial community, which was not attended by representatives of the UOC religious community. The faithful communities held a legal meeting of their parish, where they decided to stay in the UOC, but the authorities considered the village gathering where the decision to move to the OCU was made to be legal.
There is also an unfinished OCU church in Griniava village but until recently there has been no officially registered community of this newly established religious organization.
According to the eparchial administration, the UOC community has a temple complex, which includes not only the Holy Dormition Church but also the All Saints of Kiev Caves Church, which the raiders failed to enter.
The UOJ is monitoring the development of events.
As reported earlier, the UN blocked the decision on eviction from the UOC church in Ivano-Frankovsk.
Read also
Court releases Metropolitan Arseniy to house arrest
Bishop Arseniy was freed from pretrial detention after a year and ten months behind bars.
Phanar hierarch: Kyiv Lavra is transformed into a center of sad conflicts
Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon stated that ecclesiastical freedom "many times emerges through blood itself."
National Memory Institute: Lavra is sacred center for Catholics and Protestants
The head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, Oleksandr Alferov, said the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is a shared shrine for Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians.
Dumenko calls reopening of Near Caves a step toward victory over Russia
The head of the OCU commented on the reopening of the Lavra’s Near Caves, which the authorities shut down back in August 2023 without explaining why.
TRC staff abducts rector of UOC’s Alexander Nevsky Church in the capital
In Kyiv, the TRC detained Archpriest Yaroslav Kruhlenko.
In Podgorica, multi-thousand procession held on city's patron saint day
Thousands of believers walked in a procession through the capital of Montenegro, honoring the memory of Saint Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming.