Vinnitsa region authorities initiate transfer of two UOC churches to OCU
On January 26, the local government of vlg. Brailov in the Vinnitsa region initiates a meeting for the transition of two UOC parishes into the newly created OCU.
In the village, there are two churches of the UOC – of St. John the Divine and the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Last week, the general meeting of the parish took place. It was attended by 64 parishioners, who unanimously supported His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine.
However, the local government, headed by the village head Valery Rezedent, bypassing the law, initiated the collection of signatures on the transfer of both communities of the UOC, and the announcement for the meeting was placed in the municipal newspaper.
The rector of Sts. Peter and Paul’s Church Protopriest Rostislav Shemet said that despite the fact that the gathering to be held by local authorities is an exclusively secular event, which has nothing to do with the meeting of parishioners, the community of Sts. Peter and Paul’s Church in vlg. Brailov as a whole will come to it and express their position.
By the way, Fr. Rostislav, called a “Moscow cassock” and prevented by the village head from performing a rite of blessing the water on the feast of Theophany, comes from Vinnitsa and has served in the eparchy for 18 years.
Earlier, Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin and Bratslav called on the clergy and laity of the eparchy to break up the schisms with their unity and firmness.
