Seizures of temples. How it was: Pechikhvosty and Strelche

The Holy Vvedensky community of the UOC of the Pechikhvosty village begins to restore a full church life

The village of Pechikhvosty of the Gorokhov district is located on the southwestern outskirts of Volyn, within a few kilometres from the Lvov region. The local Holy Vvedensky Church is a monument of architecture carefully guarded by rectors of the Orthodox community. The Pechikhvosty village council also includes a small village of Strelche located eastward: here, relatively recently, in the 90s, the Church of St. Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles was built.

"Conscious" village council

In 2014, these two churches became one of the first victims of raider attacks by the Kiev Patriarchate in Western Ukraine. The ground for the takeover was prepared much earlier: Father Viktor Obdar, the former rector of the Holy Vvedensky Church, recalls that when he was sent to the parish with a warning that the situation was "hot" there. In the summer of 2014, with the support of the leadership of the Pechikhvosty village council, the ancient Orthodox church was seized by schismatics, with the traditional participation of strangers in camouflage.

As the parishioners of the Holy Vvedensky community of the UOC recall, the "radicals" surrounded the entire territory of the church and even for some reason ancillary premises. The rector was no longer allowed into the church and was literally rescued from the attempts of beating by parishioners.

In parallel with these events, an attack on the neighbouring parish was conducted. Strelche is one of the few cases in Ukraine when the raiders managed to break the will of the rector. The priest of the UOC community Andrei Lototsky, who had served in the parish for over 10 years, agreed to move to the Kiev Patriarchate. This was also expected from Father Viktor, but this priest did not agree to an attractive offer, for which he was declared a "public enemy".

The price "paid " by the temple

Having grabbed the temple in Pechikhvosty, the raiders almost immediately began repairs, completely changing the face of the monument of architecture. It is interesting that the condition of the bus stop directly opposite the cult building did not interest them.

The former priest of the UOC community Father Viktor Obdar remembers that in due time the parishioners decided to change the church windows. They had to paint one fragment of the window package paint at the request of officials, so as not to alter the sight of the monument of architecture fixed in the passport.

In the photo in the Ukrainian Wikipedia, the Holy Vvedensky Church of Pechikhvosty remains to this day what it was before the seizure.

Now it is painted brown.

The housing issue

After the raider seizure, the family of the rector was attacked. The couple of the priest and mother-regent with two young children were registered in the church house. They were driven out and forced to leave the house.

At first, the first UOC KP "rector" from the Lvov region was settled in the house. Then the "priest" was replaced by another one. Now the church house, taken away from the community of the UOC, looks like this.

For 10 months, the rector of the seized Holy Vvedensky Church continued to come to his robbed parish to serve the Liturgy with the remaining faithful of the UOC. One of the families gave a room in their house for the needs of the community.

The priest was blocked off the road to the village, the parishioners were persecuted and called "separatists". In Pechikhvosty, the church "twenty" took the side of the schismatics. The fragmented community dispersed to the temples of neighbouring villages, in which the jurisdiction of the canonical Church is preserved, the rector was transferred to another deanery of the eparchy.

Not forgotten

Now the parish of the UOC consists of several Orthodox families and parishioners who could not be intimidated or lured to the side of the schism. Gradually people came to their senses and gradually began to restore their strength.

"We wanted to organize a concert of the choir of the Volyn Theological Seminary students in the club," recalls the parishioner of the UOC community Ekaterina. "We already agreed on everything, but the village council members did not give the premises because of fear."

Now the community gathers less often in the prayer room, only when the dean of the Maryanovka district of the Volyn eparchy, responsible for the parish, comes here. In 2017, parishioners of the Holy Vvedensky community of the UOC began to raise funds to build a small chapel in the private territory.

"People go to pray to Okhlopov, Pirvanche, some go to the district centre," say the parishioners. At one time, a young rector was appointed here, but he was transferred to the other end of the region. Near the village, almost all the parishes are occupied by the Kiev Patriarchate, so a small community of the village of Pechikhvosty remains one of the few pillars of Orthodoxy in this area.

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