UOC believers manage to enter temple in Luka-Meleshkovskaya for Liturgy
After long confrontations, the Divine Liturgy began in the Savior-Transfiguration Church, led by Archbishop Varsonofy of Vinnitsa and Bar.
Around noon on March 16, believers of the canonical Church managed to get into their temple in the village of Luka-Meleshkovskaya, Vinnitsa district, which had been blocked by supporters of the OCU. Right now the Divine Liturgy is being celebrated in it, report the eyewitnesses to the events.
According to local residents, the believers, who turned out to have been blocked in the temple in the morning, smashed the doors and came to rescue their ruling bishop, who was attacked by aggressively-minded supporters of the OCU. One of the parishioners, who defended Vladyka Varsonofy, suffered physical injuries.
The priests and believers of the UOC entered the temple through the second door and began to pray. The eyewitnesses say that many people gathered in the church.
We recall that the Divine Liturgy in the Saviour Transfiguration Church was to begin at 8:30 on Saturday, March 16. In the evening, OCU supporters had stuck the locks on the doors of the temple with resin, but the believers of the village, fearing that the planned worship service would be disrupted, cut off the damaged locks and entered the temple, guarding it throughout the night. In the morning, they were locked inside. All this time, neither the ruling bishop nor the parishioners could get into the temple.
The UOJ is monitoring the developments.
