UOC hierarch: To replace seized churches, new ones built almost everywhere

In Olenivka, the Nizhyn Eparchy, a new church was consecrated to replace the seized by the OCU. Photo: orthodox.cn.ua

The believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who suffered as a result of the seizure of their churches by OCU raiders, have already built new churches in most places, Metropolitan Clement of Nizhyn and Priluky said in an interview with the Pravoslavie.ru portal.

In particular, Vladyka said that in his Nizhyn Eparchy alone, schismatics seized three small churches out of 250 parishes of the UOC. In these villages, believers built two new churches on their own within a year. At the same time, parish life in the affected communities of the UOC has not only been preserved but has become much better.

As an example, Vladyka cited a village in the Nizhyn district of the Chernihiv region, where church life was very poor, but after the raiders' attack, everything changed. “Somehow no one came to our church for the feast day. But after the OCU took away this temple, people seemed to be transformed. They bought a house, cleared the area, rebuilt everything, and equipped the church. And now several dozen people come to the services in the UOC church there – they have already become much more zealous in the faith," said Metropolitan Clement.

He also noted that looking at the behavior of the OCU activists, believers saw the difference between canonical Orthodoxy and schismatics. “Our believers saw the behaviour of the other side, supporters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), aggression, the use of physical force, blasphemy, etc. And they drew appropriate conclusions,” said the hierarch of the UOC. He recalled that people who seize churches, violate laws, fundamental rights and freedoms, must clearly understand that by doing so they harm, among other things, the image of Ukraine at the international level.

As reported, the UOC Chancellor named the number of the UOC churches seized by the schismatics.

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