TWO UPTsMP PARISHES IN SUMY AND ZHITOMIR REGIONS TRANSFER SMOOTHLY INTO UPTSKP; LITIGATION GOING ON IN ROVNO AND VOLYN AND NO RESOLUTION IN BUKOVINA
Religiia v Ukraine, 22 January 2016
In villages of Ukraine movement for transfer of parishes from the Moscow patriarchate into the Kiev patriarchate and ownership of houses of worship is continuing with varying success, a correspondent for the portal Religiia v Ukraine reports.
Thus on 30 December 2015 believers of the UPTsMP church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Bolshaia Pisarevka, which is on the border with Russia, appealed to the Sumy diocesan administration of the UPTsKP for reception of the parish into the UPTsKP. On the same day, the Sumy administration of the UPTsKP granted the request of the parish for reception into the diocese along with the rector, mitered Archpriest Vasily, the website of the UPTsKP reports.
On 30 December in the Zhitomir region the consecration of a new church of St. Nicholas by the archbishop of Zhitomir of the UPTsKP was conducted in the village of Kolodianka of Novograd-Volynsky district and the first divine liturgy in the Ukrainian language was performed. Until recently the parish of the village was within the jurisdiction of the UPTsMP. After the construction of the new church was finished, which lasted more than 20 years, in October 2015 residents of the village conducted general parish meetings in a village club and almost unanimously voted for transfer into the UPTsKP. The UPTsKP website reports that on 30 December 2015 the parish received state certification of registration under No. 1509.
However in Volyn and Rovno regions in January, parishes of the UPTsMP tried in court to neutralize their rivals, supporters of the UPTsKP who laid claim to the rural church buildings.
Thus on 21 January the appellate court of Volyn province granted the appeal of parishioners of the church of the Holy Protection of the village of Bribovitsa of the Vladimir-Volyn diocese of the UPTsMP against the ruling of the Ivanychiv district court according to which the case regarding the seizure of the church building of the UPTsMP parish by supporters of the UPTsKP was supposed to be closed. Now believers of the UPTsMP are continuing the perform worship services in the church building, the UPTsMP website reports.
Also Ukrainian police officers forced representatives of the UPTsKP to leave the church building in the village of Krasnosele of Goshchansk district of Rovno province of Ukraine, over which parishes of the UPTsKP and UPTsMP disputed. The police officers closed, sealed, and installed an alarm system until the ownership of the church is clarified in court. A criminal case was opened against persons of the UPTsKP who occupied the church. The church in Krasnosele is a monument of architecture and is being used indefinitely by the UPTsMP parish, Portal-credo.ru reports.
And in Bukovina, in the Chernovitsy province, the village council of Lukavtsy, which includes the small village of Vakhnovtsy, recently conducted a session reviewing the appeal of two Orthodox parishes that are laying claim to the church of St. Michael. The church is located in Vakhnovtsy and has about 120 parishioners. In the opinion of the village head, Nikolai Vyshinsky, the village council and he personally do not have the authority to transfer the property, i.e., the house of worship, to either side since such matters are resolved in court. The village head appealed to deputies: to guarantee a quorum the next time in order to make some decision, the website of the UPTsKP reports. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 January 2016)
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