UOC-KP in Sumy region registers community in residential house without owner's knowledge

In the village of Viazovoye in the Konotop district of the Sumy region, the Kiev Patriarchate has registered its community in a private house without notifying its owner, said Archpriest Bogdan Nikitiuk, a secretary of the Konotop-Glukhov diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in a comment to the UOJ.

According to him, a resident of the village knew nothing about it. Besides, she is not an active supporter of the Kiev Patriarchate and generally does not go into the issues of church life.

To date, in registers containing information on legal entities operating in Ukraine, one can find data only on one religious Holy Protection community: the one that represents the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Viazovoye.

Commenting on the issues of community registration, UOC lawyers explain that in this procedure, when entering data on a future legal entity, registrars usually check the existence of any documents on which the address is entered into the register. Why the initiators of registration chose this woman's house in Viazovoye is anyone’s guess. However, it was not possible to find any publicly available traces of the created community of the UOC-KP.

According to Archpriest Bogdan Nikitiuk, he personally asked the representatives of the local authorities where and how the Kiev Patriarchate was registered in this settlement, because at that time, in the winter of 2015-2016, the supporters of the UOC-KP claimed to "rewrite" the rural community of the UOC to themselves.

About a year and a half ago, the ancient Holy Protection Church in the village of Viazovoye of the Konotop district, the Sumy region, almost became the site of another raider seizure of the UOC parish by the Kiev Patriarchate. Taking advantage of the fact that in the diocese and among the parishioners there was a growing discontent with the then rector, representatives of the UOC-KP tried to persuade the residents to "go" into schism.

Because of the priest's unethical behavior, he was banned from ministering, but he did not change his way of life, having instead transferred to the UOC-KP. However, the community did not change the affiliation and remained part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The state of the church at that time left much to be desired, since in Soviet times it wasn’t used for its intended purpose, and later – little attention was paid to the religious building.

After the incident with the failed "transition" to the UOC-KP, the initiators no longer raise this issue. The community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has accepted a new rector, hieromonk Ioannes (Prikhodko), who is now actively involved in the restoration of the temple and the parish’s church life.