Luka-Meleshkovskaya believers: We want not to conflict but to pray

Savior Transfiguration Church, Luka-Meleshkovskaya. Photo: zruchno.travel

On July 8, 2019, believers of the Savior-Transfiguration Church of Luka-Meleshkovskaya of the Vinnitsa Eparchy headed by the new rector, the dean of the Vinnitsa District Deanery Archpriest Nikolai Strok, recorded a video message, reports Archbishop Varsonofy (Stoliar) of Vinnitsa and Bar on Facebook.

Believers of the community declare that they are faithful children of the canonical Church headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.

“Today we want to appeal to everyone, both to the authorities and all who divide Orthodoxy, Ukraine and all of us. We want to convey to all of you that we are Ukrainians, Orthodox Christians of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.

And I as a priest, as the dean of temples in the Vinnitsa region, and from today, the rector of the Savior-Transfiguration Church in the village of Luka-Meleshkovskaya, want to say that we did not come here to conflict, we came here to pray for the salvation of our souls.

Even those who have now shifted away from the true Orthodox Church and are lost, we are waiting for their return. We are ready to embrace everyone, we are ready to give everyone communion, and together pray and praise God.

We wish all of us, all Orthodox Christians, peace and harmony, and most importantly – the affirmation of faith,” said the priest.

As the UOJ reported, in June 2019, OCU activists attempted to seize the Savior-Transfiguration Church in Luka-Meleshkovskaya twice. Representatives of the Vinnitsa Eparchy said that a group of the OCU adherents in the amount of about 100 people tried to illegally get inside the church, motivating their actions by the fact that the community was re-registered into the OCU. The re-registration was unlawful and took place exclusively at the initiative of the new church structure headed by V. Yurchenko, a local deputy, while the believers of the Savior-Transfiguration Church themselves unanimously confirmed their loyalty to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The main instigators of the illegal re-registration of the temple received subpoenas. However, despite this, they, led by the OCU “priest” Viktor Chverkun, tried to seize the temple.

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