Volyn authorities condemn UOC cleric for not reading last rites over child

Head of the Volyn Regional State Administration Alexander Savchenko

Head of the Volyn Regional State Administration Alexander Savchenko on his Facebook page condemned the incident that occurred on September 2 in the Volyn village of Ozero of the Kivertsy district.

A priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Father Mikhail Zhuromsky, was unable to perform a funeral service for a child who, as it turned out, was "baptized" in the Kiev Patriarchate. The governor promised to address the incident.

"We will meet with higher dignitaries to discuss the situation," said the head of the Volyn Regional State Administration. "I do not understand such things and have no right to forgive. This event will not be overlooked. If any rituals are not aimed at humanity, get them out of Ukraine! "

According to Savchenko, this situation demonstrates that the Tomos is necessary. In addition, the governor noted that "the institutions, even if they are not state but affect the soul and consciousness of citizens, should not exist on the territory of the state unless they profess Christian morality".

Earlier the representatives of the Volyn eparchy of the UOC explained that "this is the norm when a funeral service is performed over a person in the place where he was baptized". Protopriest Oleg Tochinsky, the spokesman of the eparchy, stressed in his commentary that officials of all levels should familiarize themselves with the statement of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches of June 26, 2018, according to which "the issue of the implementation or not of [...] religious rites is regulated by internal orders of religions, denominations and religious organizations".

In January 2018, the Zaporozhye eparchy explained the Church's position as to whether the priest has the right to perform a funeral service over the unbaptized. The official statement was a response to the accusations made against the priest, who did not read the last rites over the tragically dead baby, because it was "baptized" in the non-canonical UOC KP.

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