In Khmelnytskyi region, deputy fails to transfer UOC community to OCU
MP Chernievich and the "priest" of the OCU could not convince the villagers in the need for transition.
On 18 February 2024 in the village of Kreminna, Khmelnytsky region, Khmelnytsky district council deputy Oleksandr Chernievich organised a meeting of villagers in the House of Culture on the transfer of the Holy Cross Church of the UOC to the OCU, sources in the community told the UOJ.
Members of the religious community headed by the rector Archpriest Oleksandr Yatsiyko also came to the meeting. However, neither the speech of Chernievich himself, who insulted parishioners during the discussion, nor the words of the OCU "dean" who came with Chernievich could convince the villagers of the need for a switch to the OCU.
The rector warned the people that "transition" would entail conflicts and hostility that would last for years, as is happening in other villages where communities were forcibly transferred against their will.
As a result, the supporters of "transition" were in the minority, and Chernievich left with nothing. The religious community decided to introduce services in Ukrainian.
The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God belongs to the Kamianets-Podilskyi diocese of the UOC. It was built in 2000 and consecrated by Metropolitan Feodor of Kamianets-Podilskyi. The current church was erected on the site of the church destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1930.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the head of the Khmelnytskyi district council, who massively transferred communities to the OCU, was fired.