In Pilipets schismatics accuse UOC community of attempt to "seize" temple

Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Pilipets

The Transcarpathian eparchy of the Kiev Patriarchate has issued a statement accusing the clergy of the Khust eparchy of the UOC that its leadership is planning to "take over" the church in the village of Pilipets of the Mezhgorye district. As reported in the publication on the UOC KP website, on August 8, 2018, representatives of the UOC allegedly intended to "seize" the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, whose community, according to the Kiev Patriarchate, "transferred" to them from the canonical Church.

As specified in the Khust eparchy, a year ago, the court ruled against the re-registration of the UOC community into the unit of the Kiev Patriarchate.

"Now there is no more community of the UOC KP in the village of Pilipets, we have restored our parish, because we won the court and abolished the re-registration of the statutory documents," explained Protopriest John Rozman, a secretary of the Khust eparchy.

However, despite the court decision, the UOC community did not receive access to the church. Here, even constructing a new church, as an alternative, was considered, since the majority of the parishioners remained faithful to the canonical Church, while the "transition" to the UOC KP was carried out mainly by the parish council.

Considering that the party that lost the court does not intend to return the temple, the Khust eparchy formally appealed to the local village council with a request to allow serving the Liturgy on a specified day – August 8. The local authorities essentially had no objections, except for one thing – that the Kiev "patriarchate" would be against this.

Since the UOC community has won a trial for legal registration, it does not intend to approach the temple so as not to provoke the conflict in a peaceful, multi-faith Transcarpathia: obstacles to the use of its property should also be eliminated by court decision.

"Our region unites many religions and confessions, and we protect peace, acting only in accordance with the law and the ethics of tolerant communion," said the secretary of the Khust eparchy.

In 2016, the Lvov Administrative Court of Appeal found illegal the re-registration of the community’s statute from the UOC into the Kiev Patriarchate by the Transcarpathian State Administration.

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