The church in Polesskoe seized

Church doors were broken down with a crowbar

On April 17, 2019, St. Michael’s Church of the UOC in the village of Polesskoe of the Berezno district, Rovno region, was seized by OCU raiders.

At about 7:00 pm, activists broke down the doors of the church with a crowbar and got inside.

The local authorities and police watched the scene.

As the UOJ reported, on the evening of April 17, a crowd of activists gathered at the gate of St. Michael’s Church of the UOC in order to seize the temple. 

According to the parishioners, the rector of the church, Archpriest Stepan Kovalchuk, and the religious community of the church held a parish meeting on March 17, at which they confirmed their loyalty to the UOC led by His Beatitude Onufry by a majority of votes – 130 people. 8 people abstained in the voting, no one voted against. Also, parishioners collected signatures in the village of those who support the UOC, which turned out to be more than 400 people.

In turn, the territorial community, led by the chairman of the village council and local activists, held their meeting on the “transfer” to the OCU. On the basis of the decisions of this allegedly “religious community”, the authorities registered the “transfer” and informed one and a half hundred believers of the UOC that they no longer exist. Now, having received the registration documents, the head of the village council, representatives of the police and OCU activists have come with grinders to the UOC temple, and are preparing to cut locks on the church to take it over.

The rector of the temple held a meeting with the authorities on the eve of the seizure, at which he tried to prove that his community had not transferred anywhere. However, no one listened to him. As a result of negotiations, the priest was hospitalized with a heart attack.

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