Working group in Kolomyia is lawlessness, – representative of UOC (PHOTOS)

Archpriest Vasily Romaniuk, representative of the contact group from the UOC, believes that now everything is being done in Kolomyia to stir up inter-faith strife. He said this to a UOJ correspondent.

"As early as June 5, we agreed with the deputy of the City Head that a contact group would be created to begin work," Father Vasily says. "For our part, we suggested that it should include the secretary of the diocese, the Kolomyia Dean, the rector of the Annunciation Church, an advocate and another lawyer of the UOC. After a while, Deputy Head called us and said that it was too many people. If there were so many people from every denomination, it’d all become a circus. I agreed that we would be represented by three people. But already on Tuesday, June 6, when we entered the session hall, we saw that it was filled with representatives of Greek Catholics. This was definitely a clear discrimination. The "civil hearing" began, although I as a citizen of Ukraine cannot even understand what it really was."

Archpriest Vasily Romaniuk believes that everything that happened was specially set up.

"In my opinion, this was arranged to further inflame interreligious hatred," the priest says. "They turned off my microphone. It was evident that there was no desire to listen to us. I asked why I was deceived. Today, too, the meeting was attended by cyborgs, representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate, anyone. From us, only three people went there: the rector of the church, I and the lawyer of the UOC. I do not even know whether we will continue to take part in all this because in our address there were direct threats. Everyone is extremely radical."

Archpriest Vasily Romaniuk said that the diocese intends to appeal to all European human rights organizations, so that the consideration of this case must be done by legal means.
"We have prepared but haven’t sent yet appeals to the Verkhovna Rada, the President and the Prime Minister of Ukraine, the Ombudsman for Human Rights and to the Greek Catholic leadership," said Father Vasily.

On June 7, the contact group set a schedule of services at the Annunciation Church for the faithful of the UOC and the Uniates.

On weekdays, Greek Catholics can serve from 9:00 to 10:00 and from 18:00 to 19:00. On Sunday – from 11:00 to 13:00.

The UOC can perform services from 10:30 to 17:00 on weekdays. On Sunday – from 9:00 to 10:30 and in the evening from 13:30.

The Uniates have already held an evening service at the walls of the Annunciation Church, after which activists distributed leaflets, where the priest of the canonical Church was depicted as unclean in the cassock and there was a call "not to finance the occupant".