350 people attend patronal feast of Yasinia community affected by OCU

St. Elias church in the village of Yasinia, which was taken over by the OCU. Photo: UOJ

On August 2, 2021, the Holy Elias community of the UOC in Yasinia town (Lopushanka village) of the Rakhiv district of the Transcarpathian region gathered in the courtyard of the church on its patronal holiday. As the UOJ correspondent was told in the Yasinia Deanery of the Khust diocese of the UOC, the church holiday of the community, which had been affected by the raiding of the OCU, gathered 350 people. At the same time, up to 70 supporters of the schismatic structure were counted in the church, which is now occupied by the OCU.

“They had four priests in the church, but we had ten clergymen, in total 350 people arrived for the holiday, they prayed in the street near the church, although the speakers were brought out from there at full volume. Three police crews watched what was happening, this time everything went peacefully,” the deanery said.

At the moment, the parishioners of the canonical Church are gathering for services in the chapel of St. Tryphon, which is located near the St. Elias church: they still have access to it. The case of the transfer of a legal entity – the religious community of the UOC – to the schismatic church structure is still being considered in the courts.

On February 12, 2019, on the feast of the Three Saints, the Holy Elias community of the UOC in the Transcarpathian village of Yasinia/Lopushanka, which was deprived of their church, first gathered for prayer outdoors – in the churchyard near the chapel.

At first, the former church parish actually split into two approximately equal halves – some remained in the canonical Church, others became supporters of the OCU. The temple was placed at the disposal of the new structure with false testimonies and signatures collected with deception. After the split of the community, OCU activists would repeatedly come to the rector and threaten to evict his entire family from the church house, where they are registered. At the same time, the UOC believers asked the priest not to leave the parish.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in the village of Yasinya, the second of the three communities of the UOC that suffered from the raiding of the OCU is building a new temple.

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