God showed us a miracle: In Negin hundreds of believers defended the temple
In Negin village, the UOC community defended its church thanks to the prayer support of hundreds of believers of Kamenets-Podolsky deanery.
On March 3, 2019, the church community in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos of vlg. Negin in Kamenets-Podolsky district of Khmelnitsky region held a meeting at which it unanimously confirmed its loyalty to the UOC. To defend the church from the encroachments from the Kiev Patriarchate activists was possible thanks to the prayer and moral support of hundreds of believers of Kamenets-Podolsky deanery. This was told to the UOJ by Protopriest Viktor Gadzhula, the dean of Kamenets-Podolsky district.
Local activist Nadezhda Radchuk, who had previously been a member of the parish council, began to promote the idea of "transferring" the church to the OCU. She quit visiting the church in her native village and began to go to Kamenets-Podolsky St. Peter and Paul church of the UOC KP.
The “chaplain” of the Kiev Patriarchate and the rector of St. Peter and Paul church, Alexander Tsisar, was an “ideological inspirer” of the transition initiative.
In coordination with him, the female activist began collecting signatures and campaigning for the “transition” to the OCU, while deceiving her fellow villagers and saying that the rector in the temple of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church would remain the same, “the main thing is to change jurisdiction” to “the Ukrainian church”, and telling that the UOC "sends money to Moscow", "does not perform the burial ceremony of ATO soldiers."
Upon learning that a provocation was being prepared with the participation of local activists, OCU supporters and the Right Sector members, the clergy and believers of the deanery decided to prayerfully support the head of the church, priest Yevgeny and the religious community of the UOC. About 400 UOC believers from neighboring settlements came to support the Negin community.
At the meeting of the territorial community, which was organized by supporters of the OCU, arrived the Right Sector, which had been brought in by chaplain Alexander Tsisar, and about 20 activists themselves.
After the service, the clergy and parishioners of the UOC church went to the country club in a religious procession, where an assembly of activists and villagers was being held, with the intention of discrediting the slander spread by activists.
The police present on the spot did not interfere in the confrontation and remained neutral.
Activists and representatives of the Right Sector tried to prevent the clergy from entering the club, so as not to let them get across the UOC position to the local residents and blocked the doors. Nevertheless, the rector of the church, priest Evgeny and Protopriest Victor Gadzhula insisted on their participation in the meeting and together with members of the religious community managed to go to the club.
Inside, activists began to shout, clap, insult the Orthodox, and agitate for the "Ukrainian church." In turn, the clergy of the UOC called on all Orthodox to leave the assembly in protest. Believers came out and went to the temple. When they left, it turned out that almost no one was left in the club, the activists voted off, and they fell out with each other.
Meanwhile, the Orthodox came to the temple. Members of the religious community of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary entered the temple and held their meeting, in which all 113 parishioners unanimously in writing confirmed their loyalty to the canonical Church. Believers of Kamenets-Podolsky deanery, who had come to support the community, were reading the akathistos under the walls of the temple.
After the meeting, the parish rector, Father Yevgeny Titarenko, bowed from the waist in front of all the fellow-prayers and thanked them for their support.
“God showed us a miracle and it was a big miracle,” said the priest. “I thank God for everything. I am grateful that you backed us. God Himself put everything in its place.”
The joint prayer of all Orthodox ended with the solemn singing of Easter troparion “Christ Resurrected from the Dead”. Thus, thanks to the support of Orthodox brothers and sisters, despite all the efforts of provocateurs, the attempt to “transfer” the church in the village was foiled.
As the UOJ reported, earlier in the village of Dorotishche, Kovel district, the UOC community prevented an attempt to seize the temple in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin by supporters of the OCU.
