Temple seized but faith unbroken: Olenovka faithful building a new church

Olenovka believers, despite their old age, are building a temple on their own. Photo: a YouTube screen

On June 29, 2019, “1Kozak” published a video report on how a small Orthodox community of the seized Holy Ascension Church of the UOC of the village of Olenovka of the Borzna district, Chernigov region, is building a house for worship.

“In the yard of a dilapidated and neglected house, dozens of rural women in their 70s and 80s are messing around: collecting garbage, carrying bricks, cutting down the remains of the “jungle”, which have grown to the farmsteads of many years of abandonment. A new room has already been attached to the house, which blinds the eyes with fresh white brickwork. There is only one man with them today, their priest, “Father Alexander”, who looks like their grandson,” say the authors of the report.

According to the journalists, this is not the beginning of their work, much is behind. But there is still more effort ahead to regain their Orthodox church instead of the one grabbed six months ago.

In January 2019, the church belonging to the community was “transferred” to the OCU. A group of raider activists backed by fighters from C14 broke the locks and seized the temple.

“They did as in 1933. How they dispossessed. They did the same thing. They came in, threw us out and that’s all,” one of the old parishioners described th incident.

“Neither the police, nor the court, nor public appeals helped the community of the young priest Alexander Gladysh. It turned out that he had nothing to hope for but himself and the congregation of his small community — mostly very elderly women. But it turned out that this is more than enough for the fire of Orthodoxy in the village not to go out. The main thing is that both he and his parishioners have a lot of faith in the heart and genuine Ukrainian diligence in their souls,” explained the reporters.

The community bought an abandoned house with an adjacent piece of land and set to work. In winter, they prayed in a cold dilapidated house, and with the arrival of warmth, they began construction with the modest efforts of a brigade of pensioners and kind people who came to help.

The community asks all concerned to help raise funds for the construction of the temple.

Details for assistance in the construction of the Holy Ascension Church: Privat Bank card 5168742228293076 (rector Alexander Gladysh).

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