Khmelnytskyi police open case over seizure of Dormition Church in Ruzhychna

Archpriest Volodymyr, rector of the Dormition Church in Ruzhychna, shows the church documents. Photo: screenshot from Viktoria Kokhanovska’s Facebook page

Following the seizure of the UOC Dormition Church in the Ruzhychna neighborhood of Khmelnytskyi, the rector, Fr. Volodymyr Zaiats, filed statements with the police. This was reported on the Facebook page of human rights advocate Viktoria Kokhanovska.

“They (OCU activists – Ed.) created an initiative group and held a ‘parish meeting’. Only the rector can convene such a meeting, and only parishioners of the church may attend it. But they held the meeting, came to the church, and declared that it was now their temple,” the rector said.

“The raiders proclaimed themselves the self-governance committee of the Ruzhychna neighborhood and sealed the church doors with the committee’s seals. The self-governance committee is an illegal organization that is not registered anywhere and has no right to issue seals,” the human rights defender emphasized.

According to the priest, deputies from the Svoboda party were present at the gathering and called for him to be sent to Moscow, while the head of the local collective farm, Ivan Leontevych Rudyk, insisted that “the church is on his balance sheet.”

“We have all the documents confirming that the church belongs to the religious community of the Dormition Church of the Ruzhychna neighborhood of the Khmelnytskyi Eparchy of the UOC,” the priest said, noting that radicals accused him of allegedly “robbing the church and stealing icons.” The church is the private property of the religious community, not of the neighborhood residents.

On May 18, 2022, police accepted statements initiating criminal proceedings under Article 161 (“Violation of equality of citizens based on their racial, national, or religious affiliation”), Article 180 (“Obstruction of religious rites”), and others.

Fr. Volodymyr and Viktoria Kokhanovska removed the seals from the church in the presence of police officers, and the lawyer promised to submit them as evidence in court proceedings.

“The truth is on our side, God is with us, and we will prevail,” Fr. Volodymyr emphasized.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that activists in Khmelnytskyi broke into a UOC church and “transferred” the community to the OCU.

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