Nesvich community affected by OCU raiding begins to build new church

Consecration of the foundation for a UOC church in vlg. Nesvich. Photo: pravoslavna.volyn.ua

On September 6, 2020, in the village of Nesvich of the Lutsk district, Volyn region, the foundation for the construction of a UOC church was consecrated. The rite of consecration was performed by Archbishop Nathanael (Krikota) of Volyn and Lutsk.

As reported, due to the raiding actions of the OCU activists, since March 4, 2019, the St. Michael's religious community of the UOC in the village of Nesvich of the Volyn Eparchy has lost access to its own church.

Later, the community also lost the status of a legal entity: on March 18, 2019, by order of the head of the Volyn Regional State Administration, the community was re-registered to the OCU, and then, by another order, the temple, which is an architectural monument, was transferred to the use of the newly-created OCU community.

During the first months after the seizure, UOC believers, together with their rector, Archpriest Nikolai Kovalchuk, prayed in a church house. The house was built on a plot that was allocated to the clergyman next to the church. However, the Gorodische village council began the process of registering the site, on which the church house was erected, for a new OCU community. The premises were sealed.

For a long time, the UOC community gathered for prayer in a tent set up near the church and were looking for a replacement for the church house. With the onset of cold weather, believers gathered in the house of one of the parishioners.

As it became known to the UOJ, very few people gather in the church taken over by the OCU.

Earlier the foundations for new churches were laid by the communities of the UOC in the villages of Nuino and Kordyshiv that suffered from church raiding.

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