UOC community of Vaslovovtsy records video message to Ukrainian President

The religious community of the village of Vaslovovtsy, 26.05.2019.

On the evening of May 26, 2019, on the day of the OCU raiders' attack on the Holy Dormition Church in the village of Vaslovovtsy of the Zastavnа district, Chernovtsy region, the believers of the canonical Church recorded a video message to the President of Ukraine.

“Our church as an unshakable pillar has been standing for 140 years, it has never been closed — neither in Soviet times nor during the war, but now we have been in trouble which we cannot cope with,” says a video message published by the press service of the Chernovtsy-Bukovina Eparchy of the UOC. “Since our former president brought the Tomos from Turkey, we have had big troubles, the village has been divided.”

The believers say that Bukovina has not yet known such lawlessness, and they ask the newly elected head of state for support, “because we have been praying here since childhood, in this church we were baptized, got married, had the last rites for relatives in it”.

“How are we to answer to our parents for the fact that we now have to give this temple so that it will be called the OCU? Today, they (supporters of the OCU – Ed.) gathered, brazenly took the gate off its hinges and broke through to the temple. Thank God, the police did not allow them to enter the church. What should we do if the truth is on our side, and they have made the documents and prove that this is already their church? We ask – help! Because the regional council didn’t hear us, the district council didn’t hear us – where should we go next?” ask the believers, who have already been protecting their church for four months, standing in prayer round the clock.

The parishioners noted: they understand that now is a difficult time for the newly elected President, and they pray that the Lord will help him.

“Today is a very difficult day for us – the parishioners of the OCU attacked our church: took off the gate, brought grinders, which they wanted to cut locks with. Is it in God’s way? Vladimir Alexandrovich, help our children, who do not miss a single Sunday, a single feast, and pray the way their grandfathers and great-grandfathers taught them. Dear President! Hear us please! Christ is Risen!” says the believers’ video message.

As the UOJ reported, on Sunday, May 26, 2019, at 11 am, an attack began on the temple of the canonical Church in Vaslovovtsy. The seizure was preceded by a promise of the Chernovtsy region authorities to take control of the situation with the seizures of temples of the canonical Church.

As reported earlier, in Vaslovovtsy there is a church of the Kiev Patriarchate, where supporters of the OCU have the opportunity to meet their religious needs. However, the adherents of the new church structure arbitrarily scheduled a service to be held in the territory of the Holy Dormition Church of the UOC on February 24, 2019. Since January 27, the day when a meeting of the territorial community was held in the village, which voted to transfer the Orthodox parish to the OCU, the believers have been standing in round-the-clock prayer in the church.

On January 30, 2019, the clergy and believers of the Chernovtsy Eparchy, including the parishioners of the Holy Dormition Church, appealed to the local authorities to stop the pressure on the UOC.

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