OCU activists come to grab the UOC church house in Stenka village
Head of the OCU Epiphanius Dumenko. Photo: Facebook
On January 3, 2020, in the evening, in the village of Stenka, Ternopil Oblast, about 120 adherents of the OCU came to the church house of the UOC to seize it by force. This was reported by the Information and Education Department.
Previously, the rector of the temple of the canonical Church in honor of the Nativity of the Mother of God, Archpriest Vasily Moisiuk, and his family lived in this house. However, after activists of the new church structure took away the temple from the UOC believers, the clergyman moved to another house, and a religious community arranged a house church in the church building.
Now supporters of the OCU in the presence of the chairman of the village council, Vladimir Darmograi, and deputy district police, Ivan Prostoi, demanded to dismantle the church bell bought by the UOC community, which the believers installed on a tripod in the yard.
After that, adherents of the OCU broke the gates, broke into the yard and damaged the tripod. They threatened the clergyman and chanted, “Get the Moscow priest out!”
According to Archpriest Vasily, law enforcement officers were present at the scene and decided to seal the house. People are congregating, the conflict has not abated.
Parishioners of the UOC are asking for prayer support.
Recall that earlier believers of the UOC of Stenka village,Ternopil region, appealed to President Vladimir Zelensky with a request to protect them from church raiders and representatives of local authorities who support the former. The pressure on the UOC community has been going on for several years; for example, in March 2015, members of the “Right Sector” spread agitation in order to discredit the believers. The provocateurs actively fomented an inter-church conflict, inciting violence against the rector of the local church, in an ultimatum form, forced the UOC believers to change their religious affiliation and distributed anti-church propaganda, which was actively promoted by the UGCC priest.
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