Kuty: Filaret followers do not let the UOC community in its temple on Patron Saint’s day (VIDEO)

On August 7 the community of St. Righteous Anna church UOC in Kuty village, Shumsk district of Ternopil region solemnly celebrated its temple feast. Believers were visited by the ruling hierarch, Metropolitan of Ternopil and Kremenets Sergiy, who brought a miraculous Pochaev icon of the Mother of God to the parishioners who had been deprived of their temple, and on that day many believers gathered in Kuty. However, they were not admitted to the temple for the second time. This was reported to the UOJ correspondent by the senior priest of the religious building, seized by the Kyiv Patriarchate, Archpriest Igor Kushniruk.

"We appealed to the community of the Kyiv Patriarchate with a written request to give us the keys to our church, but we were denied, and we documented this by drawing up the acts," the priest said. According to him, these documents will be needed in the future to confirm in court that the Kyiv Patriarchate really impedes access to the temple for its legitimate owners.

Currently, the Ternopil commercial court is considering the claim of the UOC community of the village of Kuty. The community demands to remove obstacles in using the temple. The next meeting is planned for this week.

Protopriest Igor Kushniruk said that this case is being handled by the same judge who had previously accepted the decision canceled in the appeal court in favor of the Kyiv Patriarchate, and a new examination has been going on for a long time. In addition, the appeal court has another lawsuit, which has been repeatedly filed by the community of the UOC-KP, demanding the abolition of the property rights of the UOC community to the church of St. Righteous Anna.

"A lot of people gathered at our temple festival and readily signed all our applications," the clergyman said. According to him, everyone is already tired of the conflict fomented by the Kyiv Patriarchate and wants to return to the temple as a legitimate owner. However, this did not cloud the believer's joy from the visit of the Bishop and the opportunity to bow before the miraculous image having been brought to their village.

The recently registered community of the UOC-KP in the village of Kuty, Shumsk district, Ternopil region, declared itself the owner of the UOC church and seized it, blocking access for the believers to the shrine. In addition, the Kyiv Patriarchate sued with a demand to abolish the right of ownership of the UOC community to the disputed church, but lost it in the cassation.

Now the UOC community of Kuty village is compelled to perform divine services in a military tent.