Raiders block UOC church in Singury and demand that community join OCU

OCU supporters have gathered near a church in the village of Singury and demand that the community leave the UOC. Photo: suspilne.media

On November 28, about a hundred villagers gathered near the Holy Church Church in the village of Singury of the Zhytomyr Eparchy and blocked access to it, demanding the transfer to the OCU, reports suspilne.media.

Before, the villagers gathered at a round table, where the OCU also demanded that the parishioners of the church leave the UOC.

"As a result, the participants of the round table did not reach an agreement, so those residents of Singury who want the church to be transferred to the OCU went to seal the temple premises. Parishioners in favour of the transfer to the OCU say that they want the church to be returned to the community of the village because it was built at the expense of the local residents," the report says.

The rector of the church did not allow Dumenko's supporters into the church building. There were UOC parishioners inside the church who defended their shrine.

According to local officials, the church is currently under construction and therefore is not taken on the balance and therefore does not belong to anyone.

The secretary of the Novohuivinske town council, Oleksandr Loviniuk, was at the scene and the police also arrived to keep order in the church.

After a while, UOC worshippers left the church, while supporters of the OCU sealed the doors and said they would not let anyone in.

As a reminder, on January 1, 2019, in the village of Singury, Zhytomyr region, the community of the Holy Cross Church reaffirmed its faithfulness to the UOC and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

Since February 2, 2019, OCU activists have attempted to "organise a transfer" of the community.

On 5 March 2019, a group of individuals claimed that they were the successors of the existing UOC religious community (according to documents allegedly issued by the UOC-KP) and attempted to seize the canonical Church's temple.

Read also