Rector of Zadubrovka community details how OCU activists stormed temple

The rector of the Church of Michael the Archangel, Father Leonid (Delikatny)

The rector of the temple in Zadubrovka, Fr. Leonid (Delikatny), shared the details of the recent attack that the UOC believers withstood. According to him, OCU activists organized provocations and tried to break into the church grounds.

“Every week there were provocations from their side, as evidenced by our numerous statements to the police; they disrupted services, made noise, shouted,” Father Leonid said. “There were many other provocations. They came with signs, wrote that we were FSB agents, and personally offended us. On the Annunciation Day, our people actually stayed until 3 p.m., hungry, tired, until they dispersed. And after that, we were told that they wanted to seize the temple before Easter. We decided not to let them into the territory of the temple, so that there was no provocation, no seizure of the temple.”

Invaders felt free to abuse us and openly threatened to take away the temple from the believers.

“We'll take it anyway! You are nothing!" said one of the OCU supporters.

In response, the rector of the church offered them to pray together, but as part of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“I told them that it was not we who had broken away but they, so anyone who has a desire to continue the service can calmly come and pray with us, praise God, but as part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Father Leonid said.

Adherents of the OCU refused to engage in any dialogue and ultimately demanded that they should be allowed into the temple. The rector replied that it was impossible, and in response to this, the “priest” of the OCU Nazary promised him hostilities.

Father Leonid added that one of the OCU activists systematically set ATO soldiers against the temple, and the head of the village council is doing everything to bring discord in the village.

“Even when drunken people came this night, tried to storm the church, he was among them, turned off the lights in the village to provoke to the same actions,” said the rector of the church.

The community members said that they want to continue to pray with Father Leonid because they feel grace in the church.

“I was baptized in this church, my grandparents and great-grandfathers went to this church, I teach my child to go to this church. And the OCU is not recognized by any denomination, I like our rector, I always seek his advice,” said one of the parishioners.

The UOJ has already written that OCU supporters in Zadubrovka first disrupted the Sunday Liturgy in the temple, and later came to seize the temple with threats to kill all who stand up for its defence.

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