UOC community in Budiatichi guarding temple from seizure for nine months

A liturgy at the gate of the St. Nicholas Church of the UOC in Budiatychi. Photo: UOJ

The large community of the UOC in the village of Budiatichi of the Volyn region continues to protect its shrines from seizure by OCU activists, reports a UOJ correspondent.

“The martyr church is suffering again. In 1959, the church in Budiatichi was completely destroyed by the authorities and later rebuilt by people and myself, and not only with the efforts of the surrounding villages, the town of Novovolynsk but also by everyone who came to the holy spring,” said Archpriest John Sabivchak, the rector of the UOC community.

All this time, rain or shine, a liturgy is served outdoors at the church gate. At present, the lawsuit regarding the re-registration of a legal entity – the UOC community – in favor of the OCU is being heard in court, however, it has already become known that it came to the privatization of land by the new church structure. The believers are determined not to give up the temple built with their own hands.

“Now we are told – who has the majority will own the temple. However, people are tired of the confrontation,” said the priest.

We recall that on April 20, 2019, in the village of Budiatichi of the Volyn region, supporters of the Orthodox Church came to the rector of the St. Nicholas Church of the UOC Archpriest John Sabivchak and stated that the church now belonged to them.

The raiders showed the rector documents on the re-registration of the community and demanded to transfer the temple to them. According to the priest, a week before the meeting of the territorial community in Budiatychi, the religious community held its own meeting, which confirmed the allegiance to the UOC. The decision of the parish, as it turned out, was ignored, the re-registration of the statute was made as in most previous cases, without the “initiative group of the OCU” presenting the original statutory documents that are kept by the rector. Starting from April 21, the temple and entrance to the territory have been closed.

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