Skobelka, Ukraine, May 14, 2019
Photo: pravlife.org
The violent and belligerent behavior of Ukrainian schismatic-nationalists with new reports of forceful church seizures and attacks on the clergy and faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Church coming out nearly every day.
In one of the latest such attacks, the supporters of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” seized the home of Fr. Nazary Filipovich, the rector of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Skobelka in the Volyn Province, and dismantled the room where his faithful parishioners gathered to pray and receive the Sacraments.
The attack occurred on Saturday, reports pravlife.org, with reference to the Facebook page of the Volyn Diocese Press Secretary Archpriest Oleg Tochinsky.
The schismatics broke the door and carried the Church utensils used to celebrate the Divine Liturgy out of the room where Fr. Nazary and the faithful have worshiped since their church building was seized in March. The police did not interfere with the thugs’ activities.
As Fr. Oleg explains, the schismatic supporters claimed they had rights to the priest’s house after the local community was reregistered from the canonical to the schismatic church by the Volyn Provincial administration. Fr. Nazary was instructed to leave the home by May 20. Additionally, the schismatics changed the locks on the gates to the territory on which both the church and house are located, and with the help of the village council, they registered three strangers in the house where Fr. Nazary and his family have been living for 3 years.
All those registered there are dummies, Fr. Oleg says. They are all locals with their own residences, but as the priest’s home is now officially listed in their internal passports, the police decided not to intervene in the schismatics’ attack and blasphemy.
“When I asked the police why they were not reacting, they responded: ‘They are also the owners and registered there.’ Thus, ‘guests/relatives’ started to come to these ‘registered’ persons, in the end filling the entire house and began to haul furniture and rearrange stuff,” explained Oleg.
As Fr. Oleg further notes, the schismatics do not have the right to physical eviction, as such issues should be resolved exclusively by the courts, thus they sought only to interrupt the liturgical life of the canonical parish. “The main thing they wanted was to disassemble and dismantle the room where Fr. Nazary celebrated the Liturgy for the faithful of the UOC. Their goal today was to stop the liturgical activities of the UOC community,” he explained.
“With regard to the expulsion of the priest and his family—don’t rule out that the OCU supporters will create the most intolerable living conditions which, in their calculation, will result in Fr. Nazary evicting himself,” Fr. Oleg added.
“Glory to God for all things! Christ is Risen!” Fr. Oleg, writes, in conclusion.
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