UOC community in Skvyra turns to the police due to illegal transfer to OCU

On July 28, 2022, in the city of Skvyra, Kyiv region, at a meeting organized at a music school, 300 local residents decided to transfer the community of the Assumption Parish of the UOC “to the bosom of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” the city council reported on its Facebook page.

Archpriest Andriy Khomyshak, rector of the UOC church in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, told the UOJ that the organizers of the meeting on the part of the city authorities called it “gatherings of the religious community of the Assumption Parish,” but in fact, parishioners of churches of other faiths and non-religious citizens in general voted for the decision.

“Members of the Holy Assumption Religious Community are the parishioners of our church, who attend divine services in it, take communion, confess, live in accordance with the charter of the community, which is determined by Ukrainian legislation,” Father Andriy commented.

The community appealed to the National Police and the regional military administration on the fact of falsification of documents. The rector of the temple handed over a letter to the organizers of the gathering stating it was illegal, since it was attended by the people who had nothing to do with the religious community.

However, neither the Skvyra City Council, which calls the community of its fellow citizens the "Moscow Church", nor Dumenko's supporters stopped this. 2 days after the illegal gathering, the clerics of the OCU temple in honor of St. Nicholas held a prayer service in front of the Assumption church of the UOC and even announced a fundraiser for its completion.

“Let them pray in their church, while we pray in this, which we have been building on our own for 9 years. Three years ago, the lower church was consecrated in honor of the icon of the Mother of God ‘Unexpected Joy’, and we constantly celebrate divine services there. We pray for peace in Ukraine and for the Lord to keep the Ukrainian soldiers safe, because a lot of our parishioners are expecting children and grandchildren from the front. Unfortunately, there are also dead,” said the rector of the Assumption church of the UOC.

On its Facebook page, the "United OCU of Skvyra region" again invited "all caring and pro-Ukrainian Christians of Skvyra" to worship near the Assumption church of the UOC on Sunday, August 7.

Why separate people? Our community remains faithful to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and there can be no question of any transition,” says Archpriest Andriy Khomyshak.

As the UOJ reported, the authorities admitted there is no Moscow Patriarchate in the Kyiv region.

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