Persecuted UOC community in vlg Bronytsia celebrates Easter in a new church

The first service in the new church of the UOC community in Bronytsia. Photo: Nazar Priymak Facebook page

Easter in 2021 became special for the UOC community in the village of Bronytsia, Kamin-Kashyrsky district of the Volyn region. After two years of service in the home church, parishioners celebrated the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ in a new church, rebuilt after the raider attack by the OCU.

Photos of the first Easter Liturgy, as well as preparations for the first divine service, were posted on Facebook by the rector of the community, Father Nazar Priymak, according to an UOJ correspondent.

On March 27, 2021, in Bronytsia, the domed crosses of the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hearken" were consecrated and installed, which the local community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church built instead of the church of the Nativity of John the Baptist having been unlawfully seized by the OCU.

Father Nazar was assigned to the raided Orthodox community of the two neighboring villages of Bronytsia and Krymno in February 2020, after the previous rector was transferred to another parish. As reported by the UOJ, in January 2019, most of the community, together with the clergyman, refused to move to the schismatic structure despite attacks from the OCU activists and were denied access to the church.

In total, the OCU managed to take away three parishes in the Kamin-Kashyrsky district – in the villages of Bronytsia, Nuino and Rakiv Lis, while the communities survived everywhere despite the two rectors’ falling into schism.

Over this time, the UOC community in vlg. Rakiv Lis has already moved to a new church; in Nuino, parishioners are actively building a church to replace two rural churches, which were taken away by the OCU. The construction site in Bronytsia was consecrated on November 8, 2020.

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