yubanka, Kiev Province, Ukraine, July 20, 2022
YouTube screenshot of the incident in Lyubanka
The violent schismatics of Constantinople’s “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” continue their campaign of seizing churches and persecuting the Orthodox clergy and faithful, which has ramped up considerably since the beginning of the war with Russia in February.
On July 14, led by the former chairman of the village council Anatoly Novichenko, OCU supporters showed up to the Church of St. Nicholas in the village of Lyubanka, Kiev Province, allegedly for peaceful negotiations on the transfer of the community to the schismatic structure.
However, after a while, the schismatics violently forced the clergy and parishioners out of the church while shouting insults and slanders, including: “The Moscow Patriarchate serves satan!”
The rector of the church, Archpriest Hilarion Shmayun, told the Union of Orthodox Journalists about the incident. The schismatics justified their aggression based on the earlier illegal re-registration of the parish to the schismatic OCU.
The schismatics also set up a territorial defense, blocking the Orthodox from praying in their own church. None of the parishioners have defected into schism, according to Fr. Hilarion.
The same scenario played out in the village of Dmitrovka, Kiev Province, on July 16. The rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, Archpriest Sergei Kobilyatsky, said he learned of the illegal re-registration only after the schismatics had changed all the locks on the church.
Fr. Sergei was even threatened for being on the church territory. He attempted to file a lawsuit, as all documents prove the parish belongs to the canonical Church, but he was refused “for lack of evidence of a crime.”
On July 14, the City Council of Novovolyns, Volyn Province, appealed to the head of the Provincial administration to completely ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and demanded that the faithful transfer to the schismatic OCU by Ukrainian Independence Day, August 24.
In the village of Badovka, Rivne Province, schismatics attempted to set fire to the chapel where the Orthodox have been forced to pray since the schismatics seized the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.
Similar examples are reported almost daily in Ukraine.
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