In Kotsiubynske, parishioners of two temples vote for allegiance to UOC

In Kotsiubynske, UOC parishioners were not allowed to attend the meeting at the House of Culture. Photo: UOJ

On February 3, 2024, in Kotsiubynske near Kyiv, local activists organized a "meeting" in the House of Culture regarding the transition to the OCU of the Assumption and St. George's UOC communities. Moreover, the parishioners themselves were not allowed to the vote, said the rector of the St. George's church, Protopriest Serhiy Tkachenko, according to the UOJ.

According to him, when they tried to enter the building, some people blocked their way.

"Despite the fact that our parishioners had documents with them – either a passport or the 'Diya' app, they stopped us and demanded that we write our names in some lists where there was no personal data. When we refused and asked to let us into the hall for voting, the doors were closed in front of us," the priest said.

According to him, he did not see representatives of local authorities at the event, and the fake meeting was organized by local activist Ivan Halunha, who had already "transferred" several UOC temples in the area.

Fr. Serhiy said that there were about 30 people who entered the House of Culture, while the members of the Assumption and St. George's communities were 3-4 times more.

According to him, his St. George's parish had already voted for allegiance to the UOC several months ago. At that time, there were 168 people on the lists of parishioners. A similar vote was also held in the Assumption temple.

Nevertheless, after both communities were not allowed into their own meeting, they decided to publicly reaffirm their allegiance to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Onuphry, near the walls of the House of Culture. First, the Assumption community voted, followed by the St. George's community.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Kotsiubynske, the "People's Guard" urged to "drive enemies" out of the UOC temples.

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