Temple in Susval closed: OCU community has no interest in Penitential Canon

Temple in Susval village in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. Photo: konkurent.in.ua

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary temple of the UOC in the village of Susval, Vladimir-Volynsk District, Volyn Region, is gathering to read the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete but has no fixed abode, while the temple, which has been recently taken over by the OCU, is empty and closed. This was reported by the UOJ correspondent.

According to the believers, after the actual capture of the temple on February 29, the building ceased to interest activists of the new church structure. “They gathered in the church on Forgiveness Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., and then dispersed. They do not meet for reading the Penitential Canon,” the UOC community said.

At the same time, the more numerous but dishoused church community of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is virtually left without any premises. The believers are going to read the canon, but they have no permanent place in order to do that.

Recall, on February 29, 2020, the local “bishop” of the OCU Matthew held the first “divine services” in the Susval temple of the UOC after the illegal transfer of the community to the new church organization. The decision to open the church and let the schismatics go there was made at a round-table meeting in the Ovadnovka United Territorial Community with representatives of the regional authorities and the police department after the applicant’s car suddenly got burnt in the middle of the dispute over the temple.

The UOC community in Susval was re-registered in favor of the OCU on March 26, 2019, contrary to the decision of the legal parish meeting, which reaffirmed its loyalty to the canonical Church.

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