Beaten parishioners: in Chornyzh, church sealed off after attempted seizure

Priest Rostislav Pavlovych, the rector of St. Michael's Church in the village of Chornyzh. Photo: a video screenshot from the Novyny 12 TV channel

The rector of St. Michael's Church in vlg. Chornyzh of the Volyn Eparchy, priest Rostislav Pavlovich, told the UOJ about the attempted seizure of the temple by the OCU.

According to the priest, the decision to change the jurisdiction of the parish was taken at a meeting of the territorial, not the religious community, which is a violation of the law. At the same time, documents with 400 signatures from the meeting of the religious community, which show the desire of the believers to remain in the UOC, handed over to the Volyn Regional State Administration, have disappeared.

"They do not even have a certificate of registration of the religious community, there is only an extract from the state register," says the rector of St. Michael's Church.

"Just like the Russian military comes into a hut and takes everything, so do they – they want to take away a ready-made church. Once people prayed in caves, in catacombs – it made no difference to them where they prayed. A beautiful church or an ugly church – they prayed. They have a lot of empty houses, let them go into any, make themselves comfortable, maybe we will help them somehow, and pray," said Anna, a parishioner of the church.

The OCU supporters decided to play a trick: while the women were distracting the UOC worshippers at the gate, the men tore down the fence on the other side and tried to force their way into the temple. However, the raiders were unable to get inside the temple as the police intervened and sealed the church building.

"Our religious community has not become smaller because of threats. The peaceful village has simply been divided into the 'right' and the 'wrong'. Although there are AFU soldiers among our believers and we are citizens of Ukraine, several generations have lived here in the same place," added the rector of St. Michael's Church.

The priest also noted that they appealed to the head of the regional council, Yuriy Pohuliayko, as well as to the department of culture and religion, and handed over the minutes of the meeting of the religious community.

Currently, together with a lawyer, Father Rostislav is trying to appeal against the illegal re-registration of the community.

As earlier reported, OCU supporters came to seize a church in the village of Chornyzh on military vehicles.

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