Activists block access to a temple to Abp. Varsonofy and UOC community
In vlg. Bokhoniki, representatives of the territorial community blocked the passage to the temple to the UOC community led by Abp. Varsonofy of Vinnitsa and Bar.
Archbishop Varsonofy (Stoliar) of Vinnitsa and Bar posted on his Facebook page a video demonstrating how activists of the village of Bokhoniki in the Vinnitsa district, Vinnitsa region, didn’t allow UOC believers not only in the seized Church of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, where the locks had been cut off before, but also in the village itself.
Archbishop Varsanofy explained to the activists that they illegally took over the church, and their claims that they are his “religious community” are untrue since the church belongs to the UOC-registered religious community.
However, activists said that they would not let the bishop into the temple, and the UOC religious community should “come with the rector and passports” to the village’s Culture House at 14:00 on March 16 to resolve the issue of “transferring” the church to the OCU.
When asked by Archbishop Varsonofy, on what ground the activists of the territorial community had changed the locks, they said that they "did not want" the rector of the church "on the territory of the village council".
Despite the explanations of the hierarch that all citizens of Ukraine must respect the law and that the rights to the temple belong to the UOC community, which is part of the Vinnitsa Eparchy, the activists said: "You will not pass there, neither today nor tomorrow."
We recall that the adherents of the new “Ukrainian Church” have been blocking the temple since March 2, refusing to leave the church territory. On Saturday, March 9, they cut off the locks and entered the church building.
Earlier, in connection with numerous cases of violation of human rights and the threat of escalation of religious conflicts, the head of the UOC Representative Office to European International Organizations Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshevka appealed to officials of the UN, OSCE, EU and other countries to influence the situation in Ukraine.
