In Pochapky, OCU members expel UOC priest's family from church house
The parish house in Pochapky village, from which Dumenkovites are evicting a UOC priest. Photo: rivne.church.ua
In the village of Pochapky in the Rivne region, representatives of the OCU, who previously expelled the UOC community from its church, are now taking away their church house, where the priest's family resides and where believers gathered for prayer. This was reported by the press service of the Rivne Diocese of the UOC.
This week, contrary to the agreement, a "priest" of the OCU moved into the house, not giving the rector of the Exaltation of the Cross parish of the UOC, Archpriest Andriy Yurchak, time to vacate.
"For more than ten years, my family and I have been living in this house, managing the household; I am a beekeeper," said Father Andriy. "After the court, which the OCU community won, we had an agreement that we wouldn't move until the heating season ended. However, they burst into the house, without any heads-up and not even allowing us to gather, and settled with us the 'priest' of the OCU."
The cleric of the OCU occupied the room where the UOC community had been praying for over a year, and Father Andriy's family is currently forced to share living space with him.
"We have a common kitchen and bathroom. Can you imagine? We renovated this house, took care of it. Now we have to move out, although we have nowhere to go. In the village, our family bought a house, but it is not suitable for living. It needs repairs," the priest said.
The press service notes that now the UOC community in Pochapky is urgently looking for a place for worship and repairing the rector's house. In addition, since November 2023, believers have been building a new church. There is a shortage of funds for construction, so the community is requesting financial and prayer support.
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Earlier, the UOJ reported that the UOC community in the village of Zabuyannia in the Kyiv region, expelled from their church by OCU activists, has organized a liturgical life in a temporary chapel-trailer provided to them by the Public Union "Myriany".
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