OCU, whose churches stand empty, targets another UOC church in Vyshhorod

OCU cleric Vitalii Bosenko provoked an incident at the Church of St. Panteleimon in Vyshhorod. Photo: Dozor Telegram channel

In Vyshhorod, representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) are attempting to seize the Church of St. Panteleimon belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), despite the fact that the city’s existing OCU churches already stand empty. This was reported by the parish rector, Archpriest Dionisii Denysenko.

On the day of his name feast, an OCU cleric, Vitalii Bosenko, came to the church, saying that he wished “to congratulate the rector and discuss the future of the church.”

The faithful perceived his visit as a cynical provocation, since it recently became known that local OCU raiders are preparing to seize the Church of St. Panteleimon. To this end, they registered a parallel structure at the same address as the UOC parish.

On the very day of the rector’s name feast, the OCU cleric Vitalii Bosenko – directly involved in falsifying documents – arrived at the church.

“He came ‘to congratulate me personally’ and to inform us that they had made an exact copy of our registration papers. He has a decree from the OCU appointing him as the ‘rector’ of our church,” said Fr. Dionisii. According to the priest, Bosenko declared his intention “to pray in our church in the Ukrainian language” and offered the parishioners a choice – either to leave with their rector or to remain with him.

UOC believers reminded the OCU representative that Vyshhorod already has two OCU churches where no services are being held. Nevertheless, the raiders are interested only in the active UOC parish, where services are conducted daily and the faithful gather regularly.

“We are praying. We will continue to unite through good deeds, to support one another as the Lord has taught us,” the rector emphasized.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Vyshhorod, premises of a church seized from the UOC are now being rented out.

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