Lviv Bishop: Police helped to seize the UOC MP church
Lvov, October 06 (PolitNavigator, Victoria Litovchenko) – Bishop of Lviv and Galicia Filaret criticized the police and authorities in connection with the seizure of the Holy Protection Church of the UOC MP in the city of Turka, Lviv region of Ukraine.
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“During September of this year, events took place in the city of Turka related to the preparation for the seizure of the Holy Protection Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In particular, certain individuals who identified themselves as activists initiated a meeting of the “Orthodox community of the city” on September 7, at which, despite the protests of the parishioners of the Holy Intercession Church, a decision was made to vote on the transfer of the temple under the jurisdiction of the UOC-KP,” reports the Lvovskaya website diocese.
According to the clergy, the events reached a critical point on September 28, when unknown aggressive men led by the same initiators did not allow the priest into the temple.
“In the morning, the locks to the door were blocked, and the gates were wrapped in chains. The church itself was surrounded by people who had never been parishioners of the temple. During the scuffle, the priest of the Turkovsky deanery had his nose broken with a bottle,” the diocese reported.
“It is outrageous that all these illegal actions were carried out under the supervision of the police, who protected the criminals, and pushed aside the legitimate owners of the temple, thereby helping the rebels,” says the address of Bishop Philaret of Lviv and Galicia.
He emphasized that, despite all the appeals to the district administration and security forces with warnings that a religious conflict was brewing in the city, nothing was done on their part. The regional state administration, the prosecutor's office and the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs took the same position of non-interference.
The diocese said that yesterday, October 5, the ruling bishop came to the city of Turki to celebrate the liturgy, but met resistance. In particular, the bishop received an aggressive refusal to the proposal to engage in dialogue.
“Parishioners of the Holy Protection Church are currently under severe pressure from criminals. However, at the moment, parishioners have already collected almost 500 signatures of Turkivites who do not intend to move to any jurisdiction and remain faithful to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” the diocese’s website emphasizes.
Today, services are performed in the Holy Protection Church by a priest of the UOC-KP.
As PolitNavigator reported, this is not the first case of the seizure of UOC-MP churches in Western Ukraine by radical people.
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