Delovoye, Ukraine, February 19, 2021
Photo: news.church.ua
Despite temperatures well below freezing, the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Holy Dormition Church in the village of Delovoye in the Transcarpathian Province, stood on the street for several hours on February 15 to worship the Lord Jesus Christ on the occasion of the feast of the Meeting of the Lord.
Since losing their church to the violent schismatics of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU), the faithful in Delovoye have been using a small chapel that can barely accommodate the priest and the altar table. Thus, the people are forced to stand and worship on the street, reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Photo: news.church.ua
It was 12°F (-11°C) in Delovoye on the feast of the Meeting of the Lord.
Archimandrite Benedict (Khromy) broadcast the service live on his Facebook page:
Following more than six months’ words of legal battles over the church building, the OCU activists, who are a minority in the village, were given use of the canonical Church’s Holy Dormition Church, with the help of the local authorities.
Photo: news.church.ua The parish intends to continue defending its church by legal means. At the same time, a parishioner has donated a plot of land for the construction of a new church, if necessary.
The re-registration of the parish from the canonical Church to the schismatics was carried out last year with the help of government officials, who fraudulently took possession of the statutory documents, after which protracted legal trials began.
There were also a number of provocations around the church last year, carried out by people who do not even attend the church, the canonical faithful note. On the eve of the feast of the Nativity this year, the schismatics put their own locks on the church, blocking the Orthodox faithful from celebrating the feast in their church.
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