Village gathering in Dnipropetrovsk region "transfers" UOC parish to OCU

Community of the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon Parish, UOC, in Vilne. Photo: eparhia.com.ua

On May 14, 2023, in the village of Volne, Kryvyi Rih District, Dnipropetrovsk Region, a gathering of local residents outside the House of Culture "decided" to transfer the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) parish dedicated to the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). This was reported by the press service of the UOC's Kryvyi Rih Eparchy.

The event, presented as a "parish meeting," was initiated by Maksym Krylach, a former UOC cleric who had been banned from ministry. Another former clergyman of the Kryvyi Rih Eparchy, Serhii Kovalenko, also took part. The gathering was led by a local journalist, Svitlana Romanenko. Besides residents of Vilne, individuals from the neighboring villages of Radionivka and Lozuvatka also participated and voted.

The eparchy's press service emphasized that UOC believers did not participate in the event. Prior to the gathering, the church community had formally notified local authorities and the police in writing about the illegality of the planned meeting. Earlier, at an official parish assembly, members had reaffirmed their allegiance to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine.

"Considering that the discussion on changing the parish’s jurisdiction took place without the participation of the parish rector, Archpriest Maksym Omelchenko, and the existing religious community – conducted instead by citizens who are not only non-members of the religious community but, in some cases, not even residents of the village where the church is located – such an event can be regarded as a direct violation of the Law of Ukraine 'On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations' and, during martial law, as an act aimed at destabilizing the situation in the Kryvyi Rih District and inciting interreligious discord in the Kryvyi Rih region," the eparchy stated.

As the UOJ previously reported, the parish of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Church in Khmelnytskyi, at a general parish meeting, once again affirmed its loyalty to the UOC.

Read also