Vaslovovtsy: raiders from OCU dismantle the gate of a canonical church

Активисты новой церковной структуры несут аппаратуру, которую использовали при захвате храма в Васлововцах. Фото: Facebook-страница Черновицко-Буковинской епархии УПЦ

On May 26, 2019, at 11:00, OCU activists broke open the gates of the Holy Dormition Church of the UOC in the village of Vaslovovtsy, as reported on the Facebook page of the Chernovtsy-Bukovina Eparchy.

Adherents of the new church structure pushed parishioners back to the church.

"Since 11:00, the alarming ringing at the bell tower hasn’t stopped, previously informing people about the Turkish invasion, now – about the invasion of persecutors of the faith of Christ," they say in the eparchy.

The seizure was preceded by a promise of the Chernovtsy region authorities to take control of the situation with the seizures of the temples of the canonical Church, including in the village of Vaslovotsy.

“Despite the assurances of the acting head of the Chernovtsy Regional State Administration that the power grabs of the UOC churches will cease, that the situation, in particular in this village of Vaslovovtsy, will be taken under control, we see that representatives of the OCU have gathered here today and show documents, which the Legal Department of the RSA found invalid, and want to take away the temple from UOC believers, who have been standing in prayer for 4 months, testifying to their faith,” they noted on the “1Kozak” TV channel.

We recall that there is a church of the Kiev Patriarchate in Vaslovovtsy, that is people who are supporters of the OCU have a place to meet their religious needs. However, the adherents of the new church structure arbitrarily scheduled a service to be held on 24 February 2019 in the territory of the Holy Dormition Church of the UOC. “In the village of Vaslovovtsy, the parish of the Holy Dormition Church has been testifying to their faithfulness to the canonical Church through for 26 days through round-the-clock prayer standing for peace in the village and the right to freely practice the Orthodox faith,” reports the eparchy’s press service. “On January 27, a meeting of the religious community documented loyalty to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The community is still being pressed to unlawfully transfer to the Kiev Patriarchate.”

On January 30, 2019, the clergy and believers of the Chernovtsy Eparchy, including the parishioners of the Holy Dormition Church, appealed to the local authorities to stop the pressure on the UOC. “As it is known from the press, some people, who seem to be a territorial community, have gathered their meetings in the villages of Zadubrovka and Vaslovovtsy. This is lawlessness,” Vladyka Meletii told the authorities.

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