Transfer to OCU in vlg. Vorsovka: priest hospitalized, church sealed

St. Nicholas’s Church in vlg. Vorsovka, Zhitomir region

OCU adherents in the village of Vorsovka, Zhitomir region, with the support of the village council and activists from Svoboda, held a meeting for the transfer to the newly formed structure. St. Nicholas’s Church was sealed, and the rector of the church was hospitalized with a hypertensive crisis, reports the "1Kozak" TV channel on Facebook.

According to journalists, on January 11, a support group from Svoboda, as well as people who did not participate in the church’s life, arrived at the village gathering. According to eyewitnesses, after the agitation against the “Church of the aggressor country”, a conflict arose at the meeting. The supporters of the OCU decided to take away the property belonging to the community of St. Nicholas’s Church, and all objections of the rector Fr. Vasily were met with shouts. After talking with aggressive activists, the priest was hospitalized with a hypertensive crisis.

The skirmish continued near the church. According to "1Kozak", the UOC community did not allow the crowd into the temple. The police were on duty at the scene, which prevented clashes. The head of the village council insisted on sealing the church allegedly so that "Moscow priests did not take out any valuables".

According to the reporters, one of the clerics was invited to a talk in the SBU.

On Sunday, UOC believers are planning to hold a prayer service in the open air – outside the walls of their home church.

St. Nicholas’s Church in Vorsovka is an architectural monument of the mid-XIX century. Here are preserved ancient icons, including the icon of St. Alexander Nevsky (early 1860s). A single-domed church with a bell tower above the entrance was built in 1850 on the banks of the River Voznia.

Earlier, the head of the Department for Religious Affairs and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture Andrei Yurash predicted “thousands of transfers” of the UOC communities to the new Ukrainian Church and gave advice on how to do it “right”.

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