UOC priest details believers' life after church seizures in Cherkasy region

UOC believers praying near the seized church in Korsun. Photo: UOJ in America

Archpriest Ioann Nalapko, the dean of the Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi district of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC, told the UOJ in America about the congregations' life after a series of church seizures in the region.

According to him, parishioners continue to gather for prayer at closed churches, conduct services in the open air, and priests provide pastoral care and perform religious rites in the homes of believers.

Fr. Ioann noted that during his years of service in poor rural parishes, he managed to restore more than twenty churches, and provided pastoral care for the clergy and nuns. However, after 2018, a new wave of seizures began in the Cherkasy region, including Sakhnivka, Kornilivka, and Neteribka; later, the Transfiguration Cathedral in Korsun was seized.

The priest shared with the UOJ in American that parish children found the charred remains of books and damaged icons near the church. According to Nalapko, believers of the eparchy often turn to the courts, but most of these cases do not end in favor of the Church. At the same time, none of the priests of the Korsun district, according to him, left the jurisdiction of the UOC, and laypeople support parish life and prayers for peace on their own.

Father Ioann said that since May of 2024, nearly 100 parishioners have gathered every Tuesday and Saturday – rain, snow, or shine –to pray outside the gates of their stolen spiritual home, built with their own hands and their own meager donations

They are often subjected to harassment, with locals cursing at and assaulting them. They blare loud music while the faithful pray. They throw stones. Parishioners, including children, have been injured. Once, a member of the local enforcement group drove his car into the crowd, which, again, included many women and children.

Inside the seized church, an OCU "priest" serves for a handful of parishioners. They don't even have enough money to pay for electricity, although the government ordered not to cut it off. The men guarding the territory are promised exemption from conscription to hold onto the church property at any cost. They smoke, litter, and curse at the parishioners gathered outside the fence. Another priest serves alternately in three stolen churches in the villages, often with only one or two parishioners.

Meanwhile, the UOC clergy and parishioners, expelled from their sanctuaries, pray in private homes, as it was under Bolshevik rule.

After the seizure of the Korsun Cathedral, Father Ioann was bedridden for some time due to stress and grief. Today, he dedicates most of his time to home visits and hospital visits, supporting his parishioners. School talks and work with local enterprises are a thing of the past. Besides services at the cathedral gates, he serves in a small church near his home.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Cherkasy court extended the preventive measure for Metropolitan Theodosiy.

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