Community of Dorotische gets stronger after OCU raids and fetes Saint’s Day

Patron Saint’s Day of the Holy Assumption church in Dorotishche on August 28, 2019. Photo: Vladimir-Volyn Eparchy

On August 28, 2019, on great holiday of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, the community of the UOC temple in the village of Dorotischche, Kovel district of the Volyn region celebrated the patron saint’s day of their church, which over the past six months has been subject to raider attacks by the OCU proponents several times. This was reported by the press service of the Vladimir-Volyn Eparchy.

This year, the holiday in Dorotishche was especially solemn and crowded and, as jokingly noted by believers, all this is “thanks to the OCU and its ideologists”.

The clergy and laity from Kovel and surrounding villages came to support the community of the Holy Assumption  church and its rector, Father Igor Kostiuchik.

The festive service was led by Archpriest Vladimir Rovinsky, a senior dean of the Kovel district, and Archpriest Mikhail Chupak, a dean of the Kovel-Voskresensk district.

At the Divine Liturgy, everyone could partake of the Holy Communion. At the end of the service, believers held a procession around the church with a prayer service which, with its sublimity and joy, resembled an Easter celebration.

During the celebration, all guests were offered a traditional festive meal, which had been prepared by all local parishioners.

“Over the past six months of artificially created upheavals, the community in Dorotische has become even stronger, more numerous and friendly. In the face of trials and temptations, people had the opportunity to take a closer look at what they were being offered in the newly formed “church” and to take an even more responsible attitude to the spiritual heritage of fathers and grandfathers. The Assumption church in Dorotishche is 250 years old now. During this period, it turned into a spiritual fortress, which numerous haters of the Orthodox faith tried in vain to conquer, from Uniates to Soviet atheists and their modern offshoots,” the diocesan press service said.

The eparchy also emphasized that the crowded celebrations were over, while the Orthodox community of the Holy Assumption church in Dorotysche, inspired by the intercession of the Mother of God, continues its prayer feat in the church and makes new plans for its restoration and improvement.

We recall that the supporters of the OCU made a number of attempts to seize the UOC temple in Dorotische. The first raider attack took place on March 2, 2019, during the evening service on Sunday before the Last Judgment.

On June 13, two men intended to break open the church doors with a grinder and a hammer. All this was watched by more than 10 "clerics" of the OCU, people in camouflage uniforms and law enforcement officers. However, about 50 residents of the village came out to defend the temple, while only 7 people supported the activists of the OCU in camouflage.

On August 10, clerics of the OCU, accompanied by their supporters and right-wing radicals, came to the Holy Assumption church in Dorotische with crowbars and a grinder, reporting mining and calling the criminal police. According to the believers, the initiator of the incident was a proponent of the OCU and Kovels district head Andrei Broilo. After the police, who arrived at the scene, examined the documents of title of the UOC community for the temple and confirmed their legitimacy, the raiders were forced to retreat.

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