In Kozelets Filaret followers and voluntary combatants seek to counter Procession of the UOC

In the urban-type village of Kozelets, Chernihiv region, near the Church of the Ascension representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate have clashed with parishioners of the UOC, reports the correspondent of UOJ.

In the morning representatives of the KP arrived in the village by bus to serve in the Church of the Ascension. Along with them came people in camouflage, who unfolded banners of the battalion "Azov" and "Aydar". "Guests" interfere with the annual religious procession that is made by the parishioners of the UOC.

"In Kozelets believers are supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, so schismatics had to "hire" parishioners from the outside, commented the Dean of Kozelets district archpriest Mikhail Tereshchenko. – Kozelets religious community of the UOC has been seeking permission to hold services in the Church of the Ascension for 23 years, but each time has been denied. The authorities referred to the fact that they have nowhere to move the weaving museum exhibits, the exposition has been displayed in the church all these years. Annually, on the Ascension Day the UOC community walked around the Church of the Ascension. Now under the feet of parishioners flew firecrackers from the supporters of the KP. Agitation with the calls "Drive out the priests of Moscow" is on a go.

The UOC parishioners believe that all indicates that the representatives of the KP are intended to seize and assign the Church of the Ascension – a unique monument of Ukrainian architecture, which since the Soviet period has been a weaving museum.

The UOJ is monitoring the developments.