AP advises UOC clerics not allowed into churches to find other communities
Priests of temples seized in Volyn and Zhitomir regions repeated the mantra “We won't do without Kirill” and failed to convince the community, says the AP official.
The UOC clerics who have been blocked access to churches should look for new communities. This opinion was expressed on January 14 by Yuri Ruban, head of the Humanitarian Policy Department of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, commenting on the situation regarding the non-admission of clerics of the UOC to the temples in Volyn and Zhitomir region on the "Priamyi" TV channel.
“I think if there is a conflict of this kind between the priest and the community, and the community does not support the priest, then, I think, the priest had better look for another community,” the official said.
According to Ruban, such a situation means that the cleric simply failed to find words of faith that would lead the community.
“If the priest does not understand that the community wants the Ukrainian Church, and he repeats to them the mantra that we can’t do without Kirill, then, of course, this is the expected result,” says Ruban.
As reported, on January 13, OCU proponents in vlg. Krasnovolia seized St. Michael’s Church and did not allow Father Andrei, as well as the ruling bishop Nathanael of Volyn and Lutsk, into the church. On January 11, OCU followers, with the support of the village council and activists from Svoboda, held a meeting for the transfer of St. Nicholas’s Church to the newly formed structure. After this, the temple was sealed, and the rectgor was hospitalized with hypertensive crisis.
Напомним, 13 января сторонники ПЦУ в селе Красноволя захватили Свято-Михайловский храм и не пустили в церковь настоятеля отца Андрея, а также правящего архиерея епископа Волынского и Луцкого Нафанаила. Как сообщал СПЖ, 11 января в селе Ворсовка Житомирской области при поддержке сельсовета и активистов из «Свободы» активисты провели сборы за переход Свято-Николаевского храма в новообразованную структуру. После этого храм опечатали, а настоятель оказался в больнице с гипертоническим кризисом.
