OCU activists again try to seize UOC temple in Luka-Meleshkovskaya

Church of the UOC in Luka-Meleshkovskaya. Photo: zruchno.travel

On May 30, 2020, in the village of Luka-Meleshkovskaya of the Vinnitsa district, Vinnitsa region, aggressive OCU activists made another attempt to seize the Holy Transfiguration Church of the UOC, the reports the press service of the Vinnitsa Eparchy.

As the rector of the church, Archpriest Vasily Almuhamed, said, the attack on the temple began after 12:00.

“The so-called activists of the OCU approached the UOC church in the village of Luka-Meleshkovskaya in the Vinnitsa region,” the eparchial press service said. “The schismatics began to call the priest of the UOC dirty words, which is the absolute norm of communication for them, they also called so the police officers. <...> We remind you that for previous attempts to forcefully seize the UOC church in this village, during which there were victims, no one was held responsible. Impunity breeds a new evil.”

At first, activists, including a local school teacher, demanded that the temple be sealed, and then, according to information received from the eparchy office, they put their lock on the church doors and blocked the side entrance, with the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church inside the church. The schismatics knock out phones from the hands of parishioners, behave aggressively and threaten to seize the temple by force.

“We draw the attention of law enforcers, journalists and government officials to another provocation of OCU activists in the village of Luka-Meleshkovskaya, which occurs during the period of quarantine restrictions in Ukraine and can give rise not only for the next raiding but also put at risk the health of believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who are common citizens of Ukraine,” emphasizes the press service of the Vinnitsa Eparchy.

We recall that since January 2019, the Transfiguration Church of the UOC in Luka-Meleshkovskaya (after an illegal attempt to change the subordination of the local religious community of the UOC) has been the subject of close attention and all kinds of provocations that develop into crime from the representatives of the OCU. So, in June 2019, activists of the new church structure launched two raider attacks on the temple; and on November 17, under the leadership of the OCU cleric Viktor Chvirkun and the chairman of the OCU community Leonid Pasechnik, they illegally entered the premises of the Sunday school operating at the church.

On September 27, 2019, Metropolitan Varsonofy of Vinnitsa and Bar addressed the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky with an open letter in connection with the developing situation around the Transfiguration Church, in which he asked to protect the legitimate rights and freedoms of the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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