The UOC temple in Piatigory seized

A skirmish occured during the seizure of temple

On April 20, 2019, on the eve of Palm Sunday, the activists of the OCU committed a forced entry and seized the UOC temple in the village of Piatigory, Zdolbunov district, Rovno region. It is reported by the UOJ correspondent.

According to eyewitnesses, supporters of the OCU entered the territory of the UOC church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos allegedly to perform vespers near the walls of the church and consecrate the willow. It turned out that such "worship" served only as a disguise for the cynical seizure of the temple. While the “priest” of the OCU was performing ceremonial actions, the raiders smashed the door.

“I went out several times and watched what was happening at the church,” commented the priest of the UOC Viktor Dovbeniuk. “I noticed the growing excitement only after a while. Many people surrounded the doors of the temple as if blocking something. When I realized that it could be a seizure, it was too late. In the temple there emerged deputy of the Zdolbunov Regional State Administration Mr. Shchebet, who cut the locks and actually grabbed the temple.”

The UOC believers immediately responded to the incident and called the police. However, the law enforcement officers did not take any measures to remove the violators from the church. Now there are a lot of people and law enforcement officers on the territory of the temple, supporters of the OCU have blocked the doors of the church building.

Recall, the church in Piatigory was sealed last week by the government officials because of the interfaith conflict. Between the two religious communities there was an agreement that none of the communities would go to the temple until the dispute was resolved in court, however, the representatives of the OCU constantly violated this agreement. In particular, on April 17, the deputy of the Zdolbunov Regional State Administration with his assistants, tried to break open the doors of the church, but the UOC believers did not allow it to happen then.

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