Tulchin Eparchy condemns seizure of UOC church in Krasnoselka
The meeting of the Tulchin Eparchy Council of the UOC. Photo: tulchin-eparchia.org.ua
On September 7, 2021, an emergency meeting of the Eparchy Council was held in the Tulchin Eparchy of the UOC, in which the situation with the seizure of John the Theological Church. The resulting resolution was published on the website of the eparchy.
The meeting, which was chaired by Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav, was attended by the deans of church eparchial districts, the rector of the Tyshkovsky Holy Dormition Monastery, Archimandrite Amfilokhiy (Vasilevsky) and the abbess of the Chechelnitsky Archangel-Michael Convent, hegumeness Seraphima (Smaglo).
The Council heard a report on legal fraud as the main reason for the conflict in Krasnoselka and strongly condemned the illegal actions to seize churches on the canonical territory of the Tulchin Eparchy.
In addition, he noted the “inhuman indifference of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople” who does not notice acts of violence against UOC believers and called the threats of OCU supporters to continue the seizures of churches as a consequence of the visit of the Phanar head to Ukraine.
The eparchy decided "to send a letter of protest to President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky as the guarantor of the Constitution and the unity of Ukraine, with a convincing request to protect the rights, honour and dignity of citizens of Ukraine – Orthodox believers in the Tulchin Eparchy of the UOC", as well as to involve the media in public coverage of the seizure of churches of the eparchy and reactions of law enforcement agencies to them.
To defend their rights, believers were called upon to consolidate around the public movement “Miriane”.
The Council decided to carry out a religious procession or prayer standing in the deaneries of the Tulchin Eparchy with a prayer for an end to the seizures of churches and legal oppression of the clergy and the faithful of the UOC, as well as consider the possibility of holding the joint prayer standing in Vinnytsia for the clergy and laity of all eparchies of the UOC on the territory of the Vinnytsia region.
Earlier, the head of the Legal Department of the UOC, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, explained why it is premature to declare the victory of the OCU in Krasnoselka.
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