Zadubrivka rector: That we did not let worrior’s body into church is untrue

Archpriest Vitaly Durov with parishioners. Photo: a video screenshot of the “1Kozak” Youtube channel

The rector of the church in the village of Zadubrivka in the Chernivtsi region that was seized by raiders, Archpriest Vitaly Durov denied accusations that the UOC community allegedly did not allow the funeral service for a dead soldier in the church. He said this in a video message that was published by the "1Kozak” channel.

The priest recalled that in the village, there had been a standoff for over four years between the UOC faithful and the OCU community, which tried to take over St. Michael. To avoid escalation, an agreement was reached to conduct services at home for all the dead, and when dead soldiers started to arrive from the front, the two communities agreed to conduct the funeral service in the temple's courtyard.

"The information that we allegedly did not allow the body of a hero into the church is, to put it mildly, untrue," said Father Vitaly. “No one approached us with the question of where to bury him, whether to bring him to the church or not. Only yesterday, the village council called and asked whether the agreement to hold a service over him in the street was still in force. So, we were all very surprised when during the funeral they started demanding that we open the church and accused us of not wanting to do so."

The rector stressed that the UOC faithful "treat all defenders of Ukraine with respect and reverence".

"We bow our heads to everyone who, in the words of the Gospel, "laid down his life for his friends", to those who are defending today our mother Ukraine from an invading war, from aggression on the part of Russia, which brazenly came to our land. Today we are helping all our warriors, helping the migrants, we love our homeland and we believe in it. And we are very sad that because of a provocation that took place just to take away our temple, relatives, loved ones and all the people who gathered for the funeral of the dead warrior John suffered," the priest said.

As reported, a similar scandal related to the funeral of a dead soldier took place in Zadubrivka in early March.

On 5 April, during the funeral of a soldier, OCU supporters cut off the locks on the door leading to the altar of the church, broke in and beat worshippers.

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RISU was founded by the Ukrainian Catholic University under the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.