"Faithful": UOC parishioner from Ptycha thanks authorities for persecution

Maria Formanets, a parishioner of the Holy Dormition Church of the UOC in the village of Ptycha. Photo: a video screenshot from the "1Kozak" Youtube channel.

Maria Formanets, a parishioner of the Holy Dormition Church of the UOC in the village of Ptycha, Dubnо district, Rivne region, said at the Congress of representatives of the communities of the seized temples of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that after the seizure of their church by raiders from the OCU, the faith of the community members who remained faithful to the canonical Church was strengthened. For this, she thanks the state authorities who helped the invaders, reports the “1Kozak” Youtube channel.

“With these confrontations, our faith becomes even stronger. Even I want to thank them because due to them we began to pray more, go to Church more, and our faith has grown much,” said the parishioner.

The head of the Legal Department of the UOC, Archpriest Alexander Bakhov, added that the first raider attacks began back in 2014 when activists of the schismatic Kyiv Patriarchate tried to seize their church in the village of Ptycha. Then the community defended their shrine and received a court decision on the ownership of the temple. But later, the authorities, without the knowledge of the parish, secretly re-registered the community to the OCU.

Now the European Court of Human Rights has opened proceedings on the application of the UOC community in the village of Ptycha, Dubno district, Rivne region, about the violation of their rights due to repeated seizures of the church with the support of the authorities.

As reported, on December 3, 2020, in the village of Ptycha, believers of the UOC celebrated the first service in the house church, equipped for worship instead of the seized by the OCU.

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