Zoria: There were few people in my cathedral due to quarantine restrictions

"Divine service" in the OCU Cathedral in Chernihiv. Photo: Eustratiy Zoria’s Facebook-page

"Archbishop" Ivan (Eustratiy) Zoria, who regularly uploads photo reports about his "divine services" in the Catherine Cathedral of the OCU of Chernihiv, explained the consistently low number of parishioners by quarantine restrictions. He wrote about this in a comment under the post to his publication on Facebook dated April 13.

So, under the photographs from the "vigil of the fourth week of Great Lent" on April 10, which got a dozen parishioners to come to the Chernihiv Cathedral, one of the Internet users stated that "there are, as always, more priests than people."

"Perhaps you failed to noticed that quarantine restrictions have been introduced in Ukraine?" the spokesman of the OCU replied to the commentator's comment.

Zoria did not inform whether there were broadcasts for parishioners who, due to quarantine, were not able to get inside the cathedral and stayed outdoors.

Regular photo reports of the "hierarch" of the OCU about his "services" in the Cathedral of Chernihiv always record approximately the same number of parishioners – 10-15 people. In October 2020, an employee of the DECR UOC ironically remarked to Zoria that "he is delighted to see the ‘crowds’ of believers who attend Zoria’s services in Chernihiv – 10-20 people, and sometimes even 30 people on a goo day." In response, Zoria said that more parishioners come to his service in the Catherine Cathedral than to the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Onuphry.

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