Raiders' attack on Kazan Church of UOC in Ladyzhyn fails

Storming the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Ladyzhyn. Photo: UOJ

The supporters of the OCU, who on 28 December 2023 attempted to seize the UOC Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the town of Ladyzhyn, Vinnytsia region, failed, reports the rector of the temple Archpriest Yevhen Vorobiev.

The parish community rejected the police's proposal to seal the church until the dispute resolution in court. The parishioners believe that raiders may treacherously seize the church when no one is there.

Now the parishioners with the rector and priests from the surrounding parishes have locked themselves in the church and intend to stay there as long as necessary. The door that was torn off during the storm was put back in place.

The "priests" of the OCU who led the attack and tried to organise their "worship" near the temple dispersed.

While defending the shrine from the invaders, Fr Yevhen and about 10 parishioners, including women, were injured: several people were bruised, one had his arm twisted, and another was dragged along the concrete blocks – as a result, his shins were skinned. The rector and several parishioners had their clothes torn. According to the priest, the victims intend to record the beatings.

Fr Yevhen said that one of the people in military uniform, who tried to break into the temple on the heads of the believers, is the newly appointed "head of the religious community" of the OCU, the leader of the local organisation of ATO participants, Mykhailo Bondarenko.

The raiders presented the documents to the church, obtained as a result of its illegal reregistration in the OCU. The reregistration was carried out by regional authorities based on the decision of a raiders' meeting to transfer the Kazan parish into the Dumenko structure. According to the rector, believers twice approached law enforcers with statements about a criminal offence – document forgery, but their appeals were ignored. On December 29, 2023, the court in Haysyn (district centre – Ed.) will consider the UOC community's lawsuit demanding the Prosecutor's Office to initiate criminal proceedings.

Archpriest Yevhen Vorobiev also noted that the attempt to seize the church in Ladyzhyn will receive international publicity: the head of the Tultchyn Eparchy of the UOC, Metropolitan Jonathan, who is a member of the coordinating council of the International Human Rights Association "Church Against Xenophobia and Religious Discrimination", will inform the global community about the offence.

As reported, on 10 November 2023, a meeting was held in Ladyzhyn by outsiders to the Kazan parish who voted for its transfer to the OCU. The organizers of the event were MP Mykola Kucher and the leadership of one of the town-forming enterprises – the MHP company.

The church community at a legitimate meeting in the church unanimously voted to remain in the bosom of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

On 28 December 2023, around 9 a.m., more than two dozen raiders, many of whom were in military uniform, broke the lock on the church gates, cut the church door and attempted to seize the shrine but met resistance from the believers.

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