OCU clerics bring provocateurs to "transition" a UOC church in Pylypovychi
Raiders of the OCU are trying to take over the St. Demetrius Church, whose rector is the winner of the "People who amazed us in 2023" project.
In Pylypovychi, representatives of the OCU brought provocateurs to orchestrate a fake meeting for the 'transition' of the UOC's Demetrius of Thessaloniki church community into the structure of Dumenko. This was stated by the rector of the church, Archpriest Borys Kovalchuk, to kozakTv1.
"A lot of provocateurs arrived. 'Priests' of the OCU came, who provoke people to conflict," said the head of the church community. "The villagers realized that they want to draw up a meeting protocol using their registration signatures. That's why we are not entering the House of Culture."
According to the dozor_kozak1 channel, the raiders managed to gather only 20 people, of whom only five were local residents. "Both the territorial and religious community of the St. Demetrius church of the UOC refused to participate in this lawlessness. Everyone immediately understood the criminal scheme of the OCU, according to which 'registration at the meeting' means a vote for 'transition'. The spiritual occupiers from Epifaniy's structure stated themselves that about 120 people voted at the 'meeting'. According to our information, OCU raiders decided retroactively to forge protocols of a similar 'meeting' back in 2019, when they managed to gather a crowd. Then the police opened criminal proceedings for document falsification, and the criminals failed to seize the sanctuary," journalists write.
In 2019, a local Uniate deputy already tried to transfer the St. Demetrius church to the OCU against the will of the church community. The attempt was unsuccessful.
Recall, the rector of the UOC church won the competition "People who amazed us with their fortitude and thirst for restoration", organized by the media project "Nezlamni.CITY". During the Russian occupation of the Kyiv region, Fr. Borys led 4 columns of cars out of Pylypovychi with residents from various villages and towns who tried to escape shelling. Anton Herashchenko, advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, called the priest a "true hero" in 2022.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that OCU raiders are preparing to "drive out enemies" from another four UOC churches in the Kyiv region. They are touring villages and organizing seizures with 'priest' of the OCU and MP from the 'European Solidarity' party Dmytro Koshka with former official and businessman Serhiy Vozny.