OCU outraged that Lepliavo parish removed church property before seizure

The iconostasis in the seized church in Lepliavo. Photo: OCU

The Cherkasy eparchy of the OCU published an indignant statement about the condition of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Lepliavo, whose community was allegedly “voluntarily transferred” into Dumenko’s structure. OCU representatives complained that the faithful had removed the icons and all church property from the church, intending to use them for worship in another building.

The OCU press service insists that this was done on the instructions of Metropolitan Theodosiy.

“These actions are deeply outrageous and contradict not only moral principles, but also the very foundations of service to the Church and the community,” the OCU complained. It did not specify whether the seizure of other people’s churches – and even the personal belongings of UOC clergy – might also contradict moral principles.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Metropolitan Theodosiy spoke about the looting carried out by OCU “clergy” led by “Metropolitan” Ioan Yaremenko. In particular, he said that Yaremenko stole his personal belongings.

“‘Metropolitan’ of the OCU Ioan Yaremenko, immediately after the forcible seizure, posed publicly in my office while personally ransacking my library. He did this without the slightest shame, and later posted the video online. Now this Yaremenko is ‘serving’ in the seized cathedral, using our clergy’s vestments, my personal staffs, the dikirion and trikirion, and church utensils,” Metropolitan Theodosiy said.

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