The schismatics attack UOC parishioners in Duliby

The Day of the Nativity of the Virgin in the village of Duliby, Hoshcha district, Rivne region, once again was shadowed by confrontation: the aggressively-minded community of the Kiev Patriarchate, climbing over a fence, wanted to prevent the religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to hold Divine Service, reports a UOJ correspondent.

During the vigil the priest, who came from the neighboring village for the feast, along with part of the faithful, went out into the yard to serve a prayer blessing of water. While people were organized near the side doors of the church, the supporters of the Kiev Patriarchate oversees it all on the other side of the fence. Once the UOC began to sing a moleben and focused on prayer, Lesia Mironchuk, a notorious activist of the schismatics, a former chairman of the village council and a sister of the Dean of the Kiev Patriarchate, quickly began to climb over the fence.

The woman was handed over the table, which she put on the steps near the main entrance to the church, thus blocking the way out for people who were at that moment in the church. It is worth noting that in such a way the priest of the Kiev Patriarchate entered the church territory.

The UOC believers, seeing the schismatics become active, first asked them to leave the church and quietly let them celebrate Liturgy and go in a cross procession around the church. However, supporters of the Kiev Patriarchate refused to compromise.

The argument gradually escalated into mutual insults. According to eye-witnesses, a woman of the Kiev Patriarchate started name-calling and swearing, while Lesia Mironchuk resorted to blows, beating a resident of the village Rekuta Galina. Almost at the peak of the confrontation the UOC parishioners called the Duliby police force.

"The police intervened in the conflict and stood in front of the religious community of the Kiev Patriarchate on the steps of the church, thus taking their position," says Archpriest Sergiy Timofeev, rector of the church in the village of Duliby.

To somehow resolve the situation and not allow disrupting the vigil, rector Father Sergiy brought out only one "weapon" that was in the church – holy water. The priest sprinkled with it not only schismatics, but also law enforcement officers, standing nearby. In fact, after a few buckets of holy water the confrontation gradually began to subside. The supporters of the Kiev Patriarchate left the church, while the faithful of the UOC managed to finish the vigil.