Bila Tserkva, Kiev Province, Ukraine, July 11, 2023
Photo: news.church.ua
Violent members of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” founded by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2018, have seized another church from believing Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.
This time they seized the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Bila Tservka (White Church), the largest city in the Kiev Province. A group of schismatic nationalists showed up at about 6:00 AM, broke down the doors, and seized the church, reports the Information-Education Department of the canonical UOC.
The raiders first broke down the wooden door, and then spent three hours destroying the metal door with a circular saw, chainsaw, and sledgehammer.
The seizure was led by a “priest” of the schismatic OCU, Nikolai Gopainich, who announced the seizure in a video published at about 9:00 AM.
Having learned of the assault, many Orthodox Christians came to defend their church, but they were blocked and physically assaulted by groups of large men, and were also pushed back by the police on the scene.
Eyewitnesses say the violent schismatics broke the arm of a female parishioner who came to defend her church. When doctors arrived, “instead of helping her, they started blaming her for coming here. This is all lawlessness; we know this,” said another parishioner.
His Eminence Metropolitan Augustine of Belotserkov also called the attack “lawless,” stressing that the faithful will not retreat and will defend their holy sites. He expressed hope that the Lord would condescend to the humility and prayers of the Orthodox Christians and thanked God for the opportunity to testify to their loyalty to the Church.
As Met. Augustine explained, the Bila Tservka City Council arbitrarily decided to transfer the church to the schismatics and now the matter is being addressed in court.
Photo: spzh.news
“People say we should unite [with the OCU],” Met. Augustine said. “Unite with whom? Even when something happens in a family, between relatives, or on a team, there has to be a truce first in order to have a dialogue. And what do we have here? It’s unbelievable…”
Meanwhile, “Archbishop” Evstraty Zorya, speaker for the schismatic OCU, known for his strong anti-Ukrainian Orthodox views, praised the violent seizure and blamed the Orthodox Christians of the UOC for rejecting the city council’s decision to transfer the church.
According to the Nikolai Gopainich, the “priest” who led the seizure, they had to damage the doors and break into the church because they were worried that “unknown persons” inside the cathedral might damage it.
Gopainich then led a female journalist into the altar of the newly seized church.
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