Yasinya, Ukraine, May 19, 2020
Photo: spzh.news
Having already violently seized and re-registered the small Church of St. Elijah in the village of Yasinya in the Transcarpathian Province last year, activists of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” created by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2018, are now attempting to evict the canonical rector and his family, including three small children.
Fr. Sergei Slisarenko and his family have nowhere else to live, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The activists have filed a lawsuit to evict the family, although all members, including the children, are legally registered at the rectory. The court session is scheduled for June 4.
The Yasinya Deanery of the Khust Diocese of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is certain the suit is nothing more than an attempt to further divide the Orthodox community in the small village.
The Church of St. Elijah was seized by a group of three schismatic raiders on February 10 last year. The next day, the schismatic hierarch of Transcarpathia announced that he had already received the church under his omophorion.
A week earlier, the same group of radicals organized the capture of the nearby Church of St. George, threatening to kidnap the child of Fr. Vitaly Kremen, the canonical rector.
Fr. Sergei later explained that the canonical parish community will defend their legal rights to the church in court, as the vote in favor of the schismatic OCU was held illegally, collecting false signatures and testimonies and garnering votes from villagers who have no connection to the church.
