Rector of the UOC church in Budiatychi: We can't find the truth anywhere

For nine months now, parishioners of the canonical Church in Budiatychi have been worshiping outdoors. Photo: spzh.news

The rector of the St. Nicholas Church of the UOC in the village of Budiatychi of the Volyn region, seized by OCU activists, said in an interview with the “1Kozak” TV channel how his religious community lives after the seizure.

According to the clergyman, believers are in an extremely difficult situation.

“The church is re-registered. The courts are not on our side. And whatever we do, we can’t restore the truth of God,” Archpriest John told the reporters.

He said that activists of the OCU have already reissued all the documentation, and the courts leave the situation unchanged. There have already been courts of I and II instances and an appeal court. However, persecution has not broken the cleric of the canonical Church.

“... We cannot find the truth anywhere. Wherever you come: good, good. But so that nothing can be done. <...> I will not transfer anywhere. We have been praying for 9 months in the open air in the sun, in the rain, in the cold,” said Archpriest John.

We recall that on April 20, 2019, in the village of Budiatychi of the Volyn region, OCU supporters came to the rector of the St. Nicholas Church of the UOC Archpriest Ivan Sabivchak with claims to the church.

The raiders showed the rector documents on the re-registration of the community and demanded that the temple should be transferred to them. According to the rector, a week before the meeting of the territorial community in Budiatychi, the religious community held its own meeting, which confirmed the allegiance to the UOC. The decision of the parish was, as it turned out, ignored, the re-registration of the statute was made, as in most previous cases, without the “initiative group of the OCU” presenting the original statutory documents that are kept with the rector. Since April 21, the temple and entrance to the territory have been closed.

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