Tarasivka authorities "transfer" UOC community to the OCU at the meeting

On August 21, 2022, a meeting of the residents of Tarasivka (Kyiv region) was held, at which the people gathered made a decision to transfer the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the jurisdiction of the OCU, according to the Facebook page "Tarasivka, New and Neighborhood News". Simultaneously, more than 300 believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were praying in front of the church, which was closed by the authorities.

On August 15, 2022, the local authorities announced a meeting of the UOC community on its transfer to the OCU. An announcement appeared on the Facebook page of the Boyarka UTC that on August 21 the "general meeting of the Religious Community of the Holy Dormition Parish of the Kyiv Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be held in the village of Tarasivka, Fastiv district of the Kyiv region", at which "the issue of changing the canonical and organizational jurisdiction of our community from the UOC in favor of the OCU will be considered". The authorities called on the residents of Tarasivka to "put aside all their affairs" and come to the meeting.

Father Vladimir, the rector of the Dormition church, asked the faithful via Facebook to come to the prayer service, which would take place during the illegal assembly. He reported that the head of the Boyarka UTC promised to liquidate all UOC communities on the territory of the Boyarka district by the end of 2022.

"He personally told me (the head of Boyarka UTC Alexander Zarubin – Ed.) that by the end of the year there would be no UOC temples left in our United Territorial Community! He also said that this was only a warming-up before they started to seize other temples of Boyarka," Father Vladimir wrote.

"Do not allow the temple to be seized by force! Please help defend our church and our church views, our faith! Thank God!" the rector of the Dormition church appealed to the believers of the UOC.

As a result, more than 300 believers came to the prayer service and offered prayers at a time when people far from the Church decided the fate of the temple at an illegal meeting. Mayor Zarubin also came to the meeting. In a conversation with the parishioners of the temple, he stated that he was not the organizer of the meeting, but had come "just to watch" and added that the protection of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was not part of his duties. "The protection of the UOC is definitely not part of my functions," the head of the Boyarka UTC emphasized.

Residents voted to transfer the temple to schismatics but did not dare to seize the shrine. At the same time, no matter how hard the authorities tried, fewer people showed up for the assembly than for the prayer service.

"The seizure of the church did not occur, although unknown people stood behind the gates, lied to people that this was not the Ukrainian Church and incited enmity among Ukrainians," wrote one of the Tarasivka residents.

"No way! You can take away a building in which you did not invest anything, but you will not take away the believers of the UOC, because they are faithful parishioners of their Church, led by Metropolitan Onuphry. Those who voted there are not recognized as parishioners of the church," UOC parishioners write in the comments.

As the UOJ wrote, the mayor of Boyarka promised to gather all the residents of the city for the transfer of the UOC communes to the OCU.