Hierarch of UOC reports two attempted raids in Cherkasy Eparchy
Met Theodosiy said that in Svydivok, a church was transferred to the OCU, while in Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, the church rector managed to persuade activists to back down.
After the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv addressed the faithful with pastoral guidance, mentioning two recent attempts of church raiding, one of which was successful, the Cherkasy Eparchy press service reports.
In the village of Svydivok, the church's rector and UOC believers discovered that a man who claimed to be a priest of the OCU was cutting the lock of their church with a grinder. It is known that this is the same person who recently transferred a church to the OCU in Irkliiv, Cherkasy region, in a similar manner.
"And our community, our priest were simply thrown out into the yard so that there would never be spiritual life in the village of Svydivok. Moreover, the documents (for the church) were prepared in advance," said Bishop Theodosiy.
Then the ruling bishop of the Cherkasy Eparchy recounted that on May 25th, on the eve of the festive vigil, supporters of the OCU came to the Cathedral of the Non-Handmade Image of the Savior in Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi with the intention of forcibly entering the church premises and taking it from the parish community. Metropolitan Theodosiy invited the rector of the church, Archpriest Ioan Nalapko, to speak before the faithful. He recounted that the activists acted aggressively, cursed in the church, and tried to seize it. Father Ioan urged the faithful not to respond to evil with evil, but to pray for the repentance of the persecutors, thus showing Christian love. And he told how he managed to convince the invaders to abandon their attempt at church raiding.
Metropolitan Theodosiy thanked Archpriest Ioan for his steadfastness and fortitude in standing firm in the faith. The hierarch reminded the faithful once again that such "voluntary" transitions of parishes to the OCU are lies spread by the media. In reality, there are illegal, forcible seizures of Orthodox churches.
"Persecutions are temporary because evil cannot triumph on earth forever. The names of the persecutors will be forgotten over time, but the names of all defenders of the faith will forever be inscribed in the granite of the memory of a grateful people," reminded the Cherkasy metropolitan.
As reported by the UOJ, earlier Metropolitan Theodosiy stated that the demolition of the existing memorial church of the Tithe Monastery in Kyiv is not just a tragic event in the history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Ukraine as a state, but a failure of today's authorities to respect civil rights and freedoms. He reiterated that there is no religious freedom in Ukraine.
