Rovno RSA illegally registers OCU community in Voynitsa village

Holy Trinity church, Voynitsa village. Photo: Facebook

On October 21, 2019, Igor Timoshenko, deputy chairman of the Rovno Regional State Administration signed amendments to the statute of the religious community of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) of Voynitsa village, Mlinov district, Rovno region. The corresponding document was published on October 24 on the official website of the Rovno Regional State Administration.

As it became known to the Union of Orthodox Journalists from unofficial sources, Mr. Tymoshenko took advantage of the temporary absence of his immediate superior and satisfied the request of the newly created OCU’s community without any legal grounds thereto.

“The Rovno Eparchy of the UOC informed the Rovno Regional State Administration with an official letter that the meeting, initiated by the OCU activists of vlg. Voynitsa on September 1, 2019, was not authorized, because it was held contrary to Ukrainian law,” comments Archpriest Viktor Zemlianoy, head of the Department for Interfaith Conflict Resolution at Rovno Eparchy of the UOC. “However, officials, who have to monitor the observance and enforcement of the rights and duties of every citizen, shy away from this. Thus it resulted in another village being deprived of peace and tranquility for a long time.”

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that on September 1, 2019, a meeting of the rural territorial community was held in the village of Voynitsa, which decided to transfer the local church to the OCU.

A cleric of the Rovno eparchy of the UOC, Archpriest Peter Kriukov, rector of the Holy Trinity church in the village of Voynitsa, Mlinov district, Rovno region, turned to the head of the Rovno Regional State Administration with a request to protect the constitutional rights of the community being forced to change its confessional affiliation. The clergyman also urged to put an end to church disputes in the village, which assumed a threatening character.

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