"Must be destroyed": Unknown persons raid UOC church in Nosivka at night

People in camouflage and OCU clerics came to seize the church in Nosivka at night. Photo: Trinity Church FB page

Around midnight on October 2, 2023, unidentified individuals in camouflage, led by OCU clergy, with the support of the police, broke into and seized the Holy Trinity Church of the UOC in Nosivka. The parishioners published a live broadcast from the scene on the church's Facebook page.

One of the women approached police officer Yevhen Boyko and asked what the unknown persons were doing on the territory and inside the church at night. The police officer replied that it was "people who presented documents stating that the church belongs to the Nosivka territorial community". He did not explain what the representatives of the territorial community had to do with the Orthodox church or why they were not allowing real parishioners to enter the church.

"I am a parishioner who regularly attends all the services. Let me into the church. Why did these 'parishioners' come here at night? What are they doing here at night?" the woman asked the police officer. She then approached one of the OCU clergy members and asked him to explain what he was doing there.

He stated that he was "not authorized" to talk to her.

"But you are a priest, aren't you? So why don't you want to talk to a parishioner of this church? What are you doing here?" the believer asked. The OCU clergy member replied that he does not speak with "Russians" and does not talk to "people who work for Russia".

A person in uniform who prevented filming told the parishioners, "You are enemies to me; you must be destroyed."

"If you are a soldier, then who are you defending if I, a Ukrainian parishioner who attends every service, am an enemy to you? Who are you then?" the woman asked the person in camouflage. In response, the OCU clergy member said, "The donations for this church are used to buy bullets that kill us."

As earlier reported, more than 450 parishioners gathered on 30 April 2023 in the Trinity Church of Nosivka to testify to their faithfulness to the UOC and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.

Read also

DESS expert: “The problem is that Metropolitan Onuphry doesn’t yield to pressure”

Authorities may impose sanctions on His Beatitude as an additional lever of pressure, says Smirnov.