Dnistrovsky DMA demand that UOC Lenkivtsi community give its church to OCU

Sts. Peter and Paul Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Lenkivtsi. Photo: suspilne.media

Officials from the Dnistrovsky District Military Administration (DMA) in Chernivtsi Oblast are demanding that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church community in the village of Lenkivtsi surrender their temple to the OCU. This was reported by Father Nikolai Rus, the parish priest, in a comment to the UOJ.

"Today, we went to the district administration with a statement about the unlawful actions of supporters of the OCU," said the priest. "But they paid no attention to our statement. We were told that the church had already been transferred to the OCU, and we must vacate it."

According to Father Nikolai, on February 8, 2024, during an attempt by OCU raiders to seize the temple, the head of the district military administration, Vitaliy Yakubenko, and the head of the Kelmentsi UTC, Bohdan Oleinik, who arrived at the scene, assured parishioners that Dumenko followers had rights to their church.

As reported by the UOJ, on November 19, 2023, a group of Lenkivtsi residents at a meeting at the House of Culture voted to transfer the Sts. Peter and Paul Church of the UOC to the OCU. Members of the Orthodox community were not allowed to attend the event. A week before this meeting, the Sts. Peter and Paul parish sent official appeals to the SBU, the prosecutor's office, the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration, and local authorities, warning them of the illegality of the planned vote.

The UOJ also reported that one and a half months before the raiders' meeting, the OCU had already appointed its cleric as the "priest" of the temple in Lenkivtsi.

On February 8, 2024, OCU activists, together with mercenaries from the "Tiger" security firm, attempted a forcible seizure of the temple, during which they brutally beat many parishioners.

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