Armed people seize the UOC temple in Verkhovyna

On March 7, 2022, in the village of Verkhovyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, local radicals armed with firearms, accompanied by local residents, approached the temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, read out the decision of the local village council and expelled the parishioners, who were praying there at that moment, from the premises. Their documents for the temple were taken away from them and the locks on the doors were replaced. A Ukrainian flag was hung on the wall of the temple.

“The church is closed, the doors are sealed, the locks are changed. There will be no more parishioners of the Moscow aggressor here,” said Roman Klim, deputy editor of the Verkhovynsky Visti newspaper, in a video posted on his Facebook page.

The day before, on March 6, a meeting of the village council was held, at which parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were accused of betrayal, required to renounce the UOC and go to the OCU or to the Catholic Church. The meeting decided on the following points:

1. To approve the address of the Verkhovyna village council to the religious communities of the UOC with an appeal to transfer to the OCU.

2. The executive committee of the village council to apply to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada and the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to terminate the activities of the UOC.

3. To recommend the priests of the UOC to stop worship.

4. To demand from the priests and parishioners of the UOC in Verkhovyna to stop supporting the religious structure, subordinate to the country that committed military aggression against the State of Ukraine.

5. To invite parishioners of the UOC to become part of the OCU.

The believers were given 24 hours to make a decision, but today at 9 am, armed men came to the temple and announced that it was being closed. The administrative building belonging to the Anno-Zachatievsky church, in which the local authorities decided to accommodate the displaced persons, was also seized.

As the UOJ reported, on February 28, 2022, the Uniates seized the UOC church near Ivano-Frankivsk.

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