UOC-KP Representatives Promise to Lift the "Siege" of the UOC Church in Ptichia

On April 14 in the village of Ptichia, Dubno district, Rivne region, law enforcement bodies and local authorities managed to reach agreement with the representatives of the Kyiv Patriarchate. UOC-KP representatives promised to lift the "siege" of the UOC church in Ptichia, report the UOJ correspondents.

UOC-KP activists promised not to block the church and not to prevent the UOC believers to keep vigil there. The clergy of the Rivne diocese of the UOC suggested signing a joint agreement with the representatives of the UOC-KP, according to which both parties give a written consent not to seize the church by force, but the officials refused.

At the moment, a temporary truce is ongoing in the village. UOC believers continue to keep watch in the church and are rotated every 24 hours. The representatives of the Kyiv Patriarchate continue to minister in the church house. The Holy Dormition Church is still under arrest. Lawyers of the Rivne diocese filed an application for reversal of the court decision on the arrest of the church.

We recall that the religious community of the UOC holds the certificates of title which prove the ownership of the two buildings. According to the responsible for the settlement of religious conflicts and the protection of the rights of believers of the Rivne diocese of the UOC Archpriest Victor Zemliany, supporters of the KP perform their worship in the church house under the good will of the UOC community. The cleric explained that during a roundtable with the participation of all branches of government and the parties to the conflict, an agreement was signed with the representatives of the UOC-KP that they temporarily rent with the faithful of the UOC a house in the churchyard and start building their own church as a newly established religious community.

Despite this, the situation in Ptichia has not changed – the representatives of the UOC-KP regularly provoke conflicts, claims to the church, which cannot belong to them, according to the decisions of the four courts of Ukraine, and block the entry into the church for believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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