Mikhalcha, Chernivtsi Province, Ukraine, February 11, 2022
Photo: Facebook
The Orthodox faithful of the Church of the Holy Dormition in the village of Mikhalcha, Chernivtsi Province, have been prayerfully protecting their church day and night for three years now.
The church has endured several attacks over the years by the violent schismatics of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” which enjoys the patronage of Patriarch Bartholomew and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
“It is on this day that three years of the prayerful standing of our church is celebrated. Three years of 24-hour vigil, three that the church hasn’t been left unattended for even a minute,” the parish wrote on Facebook on Sunday, February 6, the feast of the New Martyrs and Confessors.
Photo: Facebook
It has been three years of constant “persecutions, numerous provocations, blasphemy against the church.”
“But it’s also three years that the merciful Lord has preserved His church, and the Most Holy Theotokos has stretched her omophorion over us sinners. A lot has happened to us during this time, and the only thing we need today is to kneel in prayer before the holy Martyrs and Confessors of our land and ask their prayers at the throne of God for us sinners and the salvation of the church. Glory to God for all things!” the parish writes.
Photo: Facebook
The confrontation with the schismatics in the village began three years ago on the feast of the New Martyrs and Confessors. In 2019, the schismatics broke down the church doors with a battering ram. In 2020, about 100 masked men (some with brass knuckles) broke through the doors of the narthex, trying to get into the church. In August last year, the faithful were forced to give schismatic representatives the keys to the church to take inventory of the church and seal the doors.
The faithful say they take their strength from the example of the New Martyrs and Confessors, who so bravely suffered for faith in Christ throughout the 20th century.
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