No processions or memorial services: "special regime" for UOC in Shepetivka

On 26 May 2022, at a regular session of the Shepetivka City Council (Khmelnytskyi region), deputies decided to restrict the activity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the city, reports Mayor Vitaliy Buzyl on his Facebook page.

The official said that in order to avoid a division in society on religious grounds, the city council decided to impose restrictions on the activities of the UOC as an organisation that "poses a threat to national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine".

"The decision provides for the introduction of a special regime for their work, which includes a ban on participation in public memorial services for the defenders of Ukraine who died in the Russian-Ukrainian war and on holding meetings, rallies, marches and all other mass events within the Shepetivka city territorial community borders," Buzyl wrote.

Also, at the request of the director of the Shepetivka hospital and the director of the Shepetivka First Aid Centre, the deputies terminated the lease for part of the premises of the women's clinic, which was occupied by the St. Panteleimon parish "due to a shortage of premises".

In addition, the deputies banned the study of the Russian language due to "numerous facts of forced russification and forced dissemination of the culture of the Russian community impregnated with great-power chauvinism and fascism".

On May 7, the OCU activists under the leadership of the Shepetivka mayor Vasyl Buzyl attempted to seize St. Michael’s Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but the parishioners stood up for its defence. Since then, they have been guarding it in prayer around the clock. Bishop Viktor (Kotsaba) called the actions of the OCU raiders sabotage against Ukraine.

As reported, after the attack on the priest in Stryi, local authorities banned the UOC.