Cleric of UOC in Yasinia learns of an open suspicion

Archpriest Ioann Tkach. Photo: UOJ

On the evening of Friday, July 30, 2021, at the door of the house of Fr. Ioann Tkach, rector of the Transcarpathian community of the UOC in the village of Yasinia, there was "handed over" a notice of criminal suspicion, opened against him in the case of theft of a safe from the church community of the OCU. Archpriest Vitaly Kemin, Dean of the Yasinian District of the Khust Diocese of the UOC, announced this in a comment to the UOJ.

According to the dean, Father John did not sign for the suspicion. The priest immediately transferred the received document to the lawyer.

It also became known that Fr. John heard  he would be detained in handcuffs, but after he attracted a lawyer to the case, the threats of ill-wishers stopped.

The kidnapping of the church safe from the Transfiguration church, which was seized by the OCU in 2019, became known on May 25, 2021. The discovered theft was reported on Facebook by the current rector of the OCU, Khristian Ruschak.

Despite the fact that at about the same time several churches in the neighboring Ivano-Frankivsk region were robbed, local law enforcement officers considered it necessary to conduct searches in the house of the head of the UOC community, which suffered from the raiding of the OCU. Although the police did not find anything either at the address of residence or at the address of registration, a suspicion was registered against the priest.

As the UOJ reported, on May 22, 2021, the robbed Transfiguration community consecrated the site for the construction of a new church. Despite a number of provocations and attacks, the parish not only did not become smaller after the raider attack, but strengthened and practically completed the construction of a new temple in less than three months. Throughout August, believers plan to consecrate the temple; the community fears new manifestations of discrimination.

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