Verbovets, Vinnitsa Province, Ukraine, July 23, 2021
Photo: spzh.news
The schismatics of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” have again attacked clergy and laity while attempting to physically seize another parish of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
They also threatened to slaughter the Orthodox faithful.
The incident occurred on July 18 at the Holy Protection Church in the village of Verbovets, Vinnitsa Province, reports the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is located in the same deanery.
During the attack, the Orthodox faithful who were defending their church were beaten and the pectoral cross was torn off the rector, Archpriest Alexander Luchin, who has been faithfully serving in the village for more than 20 years.
As is the case with most of the seizure attempts, the OCU members never had anything to do with the local UOC community and had never even been to the church before, though they now claim it as their own.
As the faithful testify, the schismatics had sharpened rebar with them and threatened to “cut them up like pigs.”
Earlier, an official of the Vinnitsa Provincial State Administration re-registered the parish based on a village vote, not the vote of the parish community, which sparked a new wave of aggression as the OCU now seeks to physically take the church.
As a result of the attack, the church is now sealed while the community appeals the illegal re-registration.
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