OCU cleric accuses UGCC of violence and Orthodox churches seizure

Hryhoriy Petrushchak. Photo: the press service of the Pereiaslav-Vyshneve Eparchy of the OCU

The rector of the Intercession Church of the OCU in Oleksandrivka, Hryhoriy Petrushchak, commented on the video of the head of the UGCC, Shevchuk, in which he stated the inadmissibility of seizing churches during the war.

In his opinion, there are no such facts. At the same time, according to the cleric of the OCU, “the entire current UGCC in Ukraine, headed by Metropolitan S. Shevchuk, consists of brazen, terrible violence against Orthodox priests and communities in recent times since 1988 – even up to the present day.”

“Therefore, S. Shevchuk must renounce all the communities that they illegally annexed to the UGCC in Ukraine through violence, involving paid thugs whom the Uniates bought off and transported by buses in shifts to all the still unconquered Orthodox communities,” Petrushchak stated.

In his opinion, Shevchuk is “pretending to be a saint” and “sits on a throne of traitors and oppressors.”

«After all, it is precisely from such people, from traitors who sold themselves for 45+-thousand German marks or dollars and from forcibly seized churches that the entire current UGCC in Ukraine is made up,” wrote the OCU cleric.

He emphasized that the UGCC "seized churches in Galicia precisely from the UAOC and KP, as there was almost no Moscow Patriarchate there".

"And therefore, the UGCC did not take churches from the Moscow Patriarchate, but precisely seized autocephalous communities. It turns out that it was the autocephalous parishes that posed a threat to the UGCC," assured Petrushchak.

According to him, the UGCC together with the UOC "are fighting against the Local Church of Ukraine – the OCU". "After all, for foreigners, the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church is death. If there is the OCU, then it is evidence of Ukraine's Independence and it is already difficult for Polish or Russian occupiers to return," concluded Petrushchak.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Shevchuk criticized "the church that seeks to become state-owned" and "fights for property in Ukraine during the war".

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