Priest: OCU taking away temples from believers in wartime is called looting

Archpriest Valeriy Yablonskyi. Photo: a screenshot of Valeriy Yablonskyi's Facebook page

The head of the administrative service of the Bila Tserkva Eparchy of the UOC, Archpriest Valeriy Yablonskyi on his Facebook page said that the OCU is looting, taking away temples from the faithful during the war.

"This reminds me of looting. When occupiers enter a town or village and, taking advantage of the fact that there are no people there or at gunpoint, begin to take away their personal belongings. It is the same here: our Church is labelled as an accomplice to war. And why do not they see another Church, where children of priests fight on the frontline, the Church, which helps with vehicles, the Church, which supports internally displaced people and many others," said the UOC cleric.

Father Valeriy said that in the Bila Tserkva district the main initiator of the anti-church laws and raids of UOC temples is an OCU "priest" and a member of the Bila Tserkva City Council Mykola Hapanych.

Father Valeriy added that the OCU raiders are taking churches away not from Moscow but from the people and compared the number of parishioners in the UOC and the OCU.

"They say they are doing a great thing – taking churches away from Moscow. You do not take them from Moscow, you take them from people. I looked at how many communicants there were (in the church of the OCU in Bila Tserkva – Ed.) on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; I counted 14 people. At the same time, 303 people received communion in our church. These people are what you call zombified. They take away planks, buildings, and bricks from people, but they do not take away their faith. Do you want Christ or ideology?" the UOC cleric added.

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