In Sutkivtsi, doors of ancient UOC temple knocked down, the temple seized

The Holy Protection Church in Sutkivtsi. Photo: UOJ

On the morning of May 15 in Sutkivtsi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, representatives of the local administration, executive service, police, and TCC broke into the Holy Protection Church, the Khmelnytskyi Eparchy reports.

It is noted that the doors of the temple were knocked down, and the authorities claimed that the ancient temple is their property.

"The permanent parishioners of the Religious Community of the Holy Protection Church in Sutkivtsi have not changed their subordination in organizational and canonical matters, but on the contrary, by their own free will, they remain within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the governing center in Kyiv, according to the decision of the General Parish Assembly, adopted back in 2019," the diocese's statement said.

The UOC reminds that the Holy Protection Church in the village of Sutkivtsi is a unique monument of medieval cult-military architecture of the 15th-16th centuries not only in Podillia but also in Ukraine and Europe.

As reported by the UOJ, in 2021, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of Ukraine rejected the lawsuit of the religious community of the UOC in the village of Sutkivtsi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, and recognized the re-registration of the community in favor of the OCU as legal.

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