Occupiers transferred Greek Catholic Church in the Kherson Region to the Moscow Patriarchate

03 May, 17:35

With the blessing of "Bishop of Yenakiieve and Rozdolne" Aleksey (Ovsyannikov), who carries the title of "acting head of the Skadovsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church," the so-called dean of the Skadovsk church district, Archpriest Nikolai Kanyuka, and "employee of the department of the Yenakiieve Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church for interaction with the Russian Federation Armed Forces," Sergey Samishchenko, performed the "minor consecration" of the church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Oleksandrivka, Skadovsk district of the Kherson region.

Orest Ilnytsky wrote about this on Facebook.

The "Yenakiieve Diocese" announcement states that the church was previously Greek Catholic, but "by the decision of the local community and after an appeal to the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church," it, along with the parish, "came under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate."

In 2006, the priest Volodymyr Halatiuk, together with the parish, moved from the Greek Catholic Church to the newly established Orthodox parish of St. Archangel Michael in the village of Oleksandrivka (then Ptakhivka).

Since then, the parish, which was part of the Odessa Exarchate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, held services in a former warehouse, which was initially rented and was later purchased through an auction at the end of 2011.

In early 2017, the community received permission to build a church on the allocated land plot. It is this church, which was under construction, that the "priests" from the Moscow Patriarchate, serving the occupiers, "reconsecrated."

Tags: #ROC #Oleksiy (Ovsyannikov) #Russian aggression against Ukraine