Attempts to transfer last UOC temple to OCU fail in Vorzel

A meeting of the territorial community of Vorzel. Photo: the Bucha City Council

According to the Bucha City Council Facebook page, they were unable to transfer St. Peter and Paul's Church of the UOC to the OCU.

Over 160 residents of the settlement, including parishioners of the UOC, attended the meeting at Vorzel School No. 10. They defended the church's affiliation with the canonical Church. As a result of the vote, the authorities failed to carry out the transfer to the OCU. The city council called it a provocation and postponed the meeting of the territorial community.

"We are grateful to every resident of Vorzel who came to support the Ukrainian Church. We will carry out explanatory work and ask every patriot of Vorzel to come next time. We plan to hold the next meeting within the coming weeks," said Tetiana Shepil, the initiator of transferring the church to the OCU.

The city council's statement mentioned that Vorzel has four active churches, one of which belongs to the UOC.

In the comments on the Bucha City Council's post, the authorities were accused of lying.

"Isn’t the official page of the Bucha City Council ashamed to write such dirt? To write lies. The vote took place, but not with the result you wanted. And there were no supporters or provocateurs from the Moscow Patriarchate, only residents of Vorzel and church parishioners! The real provocateurs are those who organized this meeting... But things didn't go as planned, so you can write anything. But it's one thing when an individual writes it, and another when the official page of the Bucha City Council writes lies. We have no trust in you," wrote Andrey Leshchenko.

"The local community supporting the OCU didn't even know the name of the church... Real followers of Ostap Bender," exclaimed Sasha Deriy.

"When Vorzel was under occupation, and the leadership were the first to run away, it was St. Peter and Paul's Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that helped people, provided the lower church as a bomb shelter (which saved many lives in Vorzel), and fed the people. And now those who stayed in safe places have returned and are provoking. You won't intimidate us. We are the Ukrainian Church, and God is with us!" wrote Galyna Zvenigorodska.

As reported, in 2022, during active hostilities in the Kyiv region, employees of the UOC's "Mission of Mercy" delivered humanitarian aid to the outskirts of Vorzel.

Read also

Vatican closes Sistine Chapel to prepare for election of new pope

The Sistine Chapel has been closed to visitors ahead of the conclave that will elect the successor to the late Pope Francis.