UOC community of Vaslovivtsi whose church was raided by OCU prays outdoors

A liturgy in Vaslovivtsi. Photo: facebook.com/orthobuk

On 22 October 2023, the rector of the UOC community in the village of Vaslovivtsi in the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy, Archpriest Ioann Kuz, celebrated the liturgy in a small chapel, while the faithful prayed in the open air, reports the press service of the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Eparchy.

The eparchy said that more than 100 parishioners of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the village of Vaslovivtsi, which was seized by OCU representatives, prayed at the liturgy.

"As our Primate His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine says: "God lives not in walls but in hearts"; we believe that during the service of the priest and the faithful, who did not change the faith of their ancestors, God made them feel that He lives in their hearts," says the eparchy’s message.

The chapel was consecrated in 1993 by the then Bishop Onuphry of Chernivtsi and Bukovina. The chapel served as an altar for divine service, and the area around it – a place for the prayer of the faithful.

As reported, in Vaslavivtsi, men of strong build in balaclavas seized the UOC church.

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