OCU cleric personally cuts locks during seizure of UOC church in Cherniavka

OCU cleric Serhii Yanchuk cuts the locks off a UOC church. Collage: UOJ

In the village of Cherniavka in Ukraine's Zhytomyr region, OCU cleric Serhii Yanchuk seized the UOC's St. Paraskeva Church, personally cutting the locks off the church doors and telling the parish rector that the UOC community had no rights whatsoever.

Before the takeover, the church's rector, Fr. Alexander, asked Yanchuk to provide documents confirming ownership of the church building. He proposed that copies of the meeting minutes, signature lists, and the names of those who had participated in the vote be given to the parishioners so the community could review them over the course of several days and express its position.

However, Serhii Yanchuk rejected these requests, questioning the UOC community's legal rights.

"What rights do you have here? As the governing center of an aggressor state, you still have the audacity to stand here and say that you're going to review something? Why should we provide you with any report?" Yanchuk said.

He also accused the priest of having lost "the fear of God" and claimed that, by "serving the enemy" on Ukrainian soil, the UOC clergyman was disgracing both the people and the Church.

"We are doing our work on our own land and in our own Church. But you are an enemy of our people and our Church. I won't even shake your hand anymore," Yanchuk said, ending the conversation.

Immediately afterward, he began forcing open the church doors. Once inside, he smiled and referred to the church's property as "Moscow property."

As the UOJ previously reported, raiders cut the locks off a UOC church in Kuzmyn.

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