Parish in Kolosovaya builds a temple after three years of split and trial

The small village of Kolosovaya is located not far from the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra: the monastery can be clearly seen on the road from Kolosovaya to the district center, the city of Kremenets. Three years ago, on April 26, 2015, the local community of the UOC was shocked by a local religious conflict played out according to standards that were tested in a number of Orthodox parishes of Ternopol region on the outskirts of Pochaev.

The favorite scheme of church raiders, "scandal in the village - collection of signatures - re-registration of the statute - seizure of the church", was finally implemented in Kolosovaya throughout the year, next summer, under the pretext that one of the court rulings was made against the believers of the UOC. Another arrival in the village of a group of outsiders in camouflage ended up with the cutting of locks on temple doors and breaking in of representatives of the Kyiv Patriarchate in the church of St. John the Theologian.

Almost immediately the parishioners of the UOC began to look for an alternative: although in the court of appeal the case of re-registering the charter of their community in favor of the UOC-KP was returned for a second consideration, everyone was well aware that they had few chances to enter their temple again. In the autumn of 2016, the community that had been deprived of its status began to be rebuilt.

Eyewitnesses recall a tumultuous day of collecting signatures for changing the jurisdiction of the religious community as a bad dream. At that date, in 2015, the Women of the Myrrh-bearers holiday was celebrated, but parishioners on the eve of the holiday were being split by the idea of "moving" to the UOC-KP under the pretext of a petty conflict. Moreover, the “pushers” were the people who had nothing in common with church life before and did not hide the fact they were being encouraged financially. At the same time, the "activists" surprised the parishioners a lot, confusing the patron of the community John the Theologian with John the Baptist: it seemed they did not care at all.

Gathering of villagers on April 26, without registration of the protocol on the "transfer to the UOC-KP" which was documented later, ended with a many-hour silly travesty and the departure of citizens who had initially entered the village in balaclavas. The very scene of the first clash between the parish of the UOC and supporters of the "transition" was reminiscent of some eerie whirlpool, which for the first time divided the residents into two camps.

The funnel diverged even further crashing the community that was once engaged in building the temple by joint efforts, destroyed friendly and close relations, engulfing scandals, lies, attacks of the faithful and even the incident of beating one of the parishioners of the canonical Church to the state when she was taken to the intensive care unit.

Someone pretended that everything was fine in Kolosovaya and nothing was going on, and continues to do so. Someone interpreted the event as "a friendly transition of villagers to the patriotic faith". Someone spread out standard fables about the local rector of the UOC community as a person generally eschewing conflicts and cameras, and about his parishioners.

At the same time the people who had suffered the act of raiding, like in the distant 1990, silently began the construction works.

Those who caused a church schism in Kolosovaya announce their success: there is no de jure community of the UOC in the village, the case on re-registration of its charter is considered by the court. The temple has been taken from people. In fact, the parish has not only survived, but become even stronger, because people are united by the common cause. In a mere 18 months a new church has been built on a land plot in the center of the village, near the hut accommodated as a house temple.

The community’s elder, local resident Stepan Mazurok had erected fifteen Orthodox churches before. He also invested his efforts into the church of St. John the Theologian, which was then grabbed by the Kiev Patriarchate. The new church is already the sixteenth sacred shrine that this man built. At the same time, as Stepan Mazurok says, people did everything themselves, employing outsiders only for the most difficult tasks. According to the documents, the building is completely ready, only the internal works are left which the community hopes to accomplish before the patronal holiday, by October 9.

"We needed to pray somewhere, take the Holy Communion, get married, and perform the funeral service for the departed," says the master of the parish choir, Maya Ramskaya. According to her, there is no former friendship in the rural community, although people say hello, observing the decencies.

In the spring of 2017, near the temporary prayer house, a foundation was laid and the plinth wall of the future church was set up.

Exactly one year later, thanks to the financial assistance of patrons, the Tabor Charitable Foundation, and the UOC Metropolia, a new church is already embellishing the village. In many respects this event made it possible to shoot the conflict. The supporters of the UOC-KP, who stayed in the old church, handle their own business. The parishioners of the UOC still continue to pray in the house church, waiting to cross the threshold of the newly built shrine again.