Ladyzhyn rector: At liturgy, OCU reps shout "Chervona Kalyna" under windows

OCU "activists" who raided the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Ladyzhyn. Photo: a video screenshot of the Telegram channel "Kozak 1".

The community of the Kazan parish of the UOC in Ladyzhyn, Vinnytsia region, expelled from their church, continues their liturgical life, despite the attempts of the OCU "activists" to prevent it, said Archpriest Yevheniy Vorobiov, the rector of the parish, in an interview with the UOJ.

He said that on the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord and the Feast of St Basil the Great, Dumenko’s associates tried to disrupt the Divine Liturgy, which was celebrated in the church house near the seized temple.

"On Saturday, 13 January, their 'priests' held their 'prayer service' in the church, sang a hymn there," says Fr Yevheniy. “On Sunday morning, nothing happened there but they tried to interfere with us praying in the church house. We served the liturgy, and the day before – the all-night vigil. There were a lot of people gathered on Sunday, up to a hundred people – it was stuffy, we had to open the windows. So they (representatives of the OCU – Ed.) came to the windows and played ‘Chervona Kalyna’".

The rector stressed that the Orthodox believers do not abandon their holy shrine, which is in the hands of the raiders.

"In the first days after the seizure of the temple, our parishioners went around it in a procession. And now the prayer near the shrine continues. People come, stand, pray," noted the priest.

As reported, Fr Yevheniy Vorobiov detailed the seizure of his temple on 9 January 2024.

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