Khutory: OCU members “transfer” UOC community while praying at Liturgy
In Khutory, OCU members organized a meeting in the clubhouse on the transfer of the church community to the OCU, while the community itself was praying in the temple.
On August 7, 2022, residents of Khutory, Cherkasy district, gathered in a local club to transfer the community of the Church of John the Baptist of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the OCU, reports suspilne.media. The resource's photos from the event show that those present do not wear crosses.
The Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC said that the meeting in the club of Khutory took place at the time when Sunday Liturgy was still going on at St. John's Church, and therefore it cannot be considered a meeting of the religious community in any way.
A persistent and intrusive door-to-door canvassing of houses the night before, flyers and advertisements attracted around a hundred people to the club's action, people who do not even go to church on Sundays and therefore do not belong to the religious community," the eparchy said. “So, by manipulating these people, the religious community, which at the same time was attending the Liturgy in its own church and had nothing to do with the meeting at the club, was "transferred unanimously" into schism in the village club. Of course, it was "transferred" together with the church complex.
The UOC fears that this action "can disturb inter-faith peace in Cherkasy. Peace is fragile but very important. The peace that representatives of all confessions have learned to appreciate and respect in our city.”
On July 31, the community of the Church of John the Baptist in the village of Khutory unanimously confirmed its loyalty to the UOC and his Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine at their meeting.
