Khmelnytskyi Eparchy of UOC denies fake about 5 parishes joining OCU

A meeting of OCU supporters in a village near Krasyliv. Photo: the Krasyliv City Council Facebook page

The press service of the Khmelnytskyi Eparchy of the UOC denied the information published by the Krasyliv City Council about the alleged "transfer" to the OCU of church communities in the villages of Manivtsi, Lahodyntsi, Pylypy, Pechesky and Hrytsyky.

The press service notes that the parishes of the UOC in these villages did not make such decisions, and "meetings of territorial communities, according to the current legislation, cannot be considered legitimate and make decisions on the change of subordination by a religious community in canonical and organisational matters".

"The rectors and members of the religious communities of the Church of St Luke the Apostle in the village of Manivtsi, the Holy Intercession Church in the village of. Lahodyntsi, the St Nicholas parish in the village of Pylypy, the Holy Intercession parish in the village of Pechecky, and the Church of the Assumption of the Theotokos in the village of Hrytsyky confirm their organisational and canonical unity with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with its governing centre in the city of Kyiv under the leadership of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine. <...> Thus, the information spread by Krasyliv City Council on Facebook does not correspond to reality," the press service stresses.

It also noted that the communities of the Krasyliv Deanery of the UOC, "transferred" in absentia to the structure of Epifaniy Dumenko, will inform the Khmelnytskyi Regional Military Administration, which registers religious organisations in the region, about the situation.

The eparchy assured that it would use "all legal possibilities of national legal proceedings and international law" to defend believers’ rights.

As reported, on 15 October 2023, at a "service" in the seized Intercession Cathedral of the UOC in Khmelnytskyi, the head of the OCU, Dumenko, said that eventually all Orthodox Ukrainians, regardless of their desire, would end up in his structure.

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