The church of the village of Halynivka, Ovadnovska Territorial Community, was sealed. This happened as the notorious priest of the UOC-MP, Fr Sharan secretly held a service there on October 4.
The conflict between clergy and parishioners lasted for a whole day. The peasants even spent the night near the church, because the odious clergyman did not allow them to conduct an inventory of church property and transfer it.
In his defense, he wondered: "Have I done anything wrong?".
This is reported by BUG media outlet citing the story of the Avers TV channel.
Note that after residents of Halynivka had found out about Sharan's congratulations to Putin, on August 9, a community meeting was initiated, at which they voted for the transition to the OCU. On the same day, the Diocese of Volodymyr-Volynsky the UOC-MP appointed another priest, Fr Yuri, to serve in the church.
For two months Oleksiy Sharan did not appear in the village. They did not even know where he was. However, on October 4, he secretly visited the church and even performed divine service. Residents of the village, who are supporters of the OCU, were outraged by Sharan's visit to the church.
After the service, a commission that was set up on occasion tried to conduct an inventory in the church, that is, an inventory of property and material values. However, Oleksiy Sharan, together with the clergyman of the Assumption Cathedral of Volodymyr-Volynsky, did not allow them to do this.
The priests went at all lengths: they even used their fists and literally pushed out lawyer Mykola Sorokopud, whom the religious community hired to join the OCU in accordance with the law.
"Leave the temple, and then we will speak outside the temple grounds. Off you go! Come on! Come on! I come from a military family. Off you go, I said, get out of here! Because you have no right to do anything here at all. You've come here and are trying to say something here," the clergyman insisted.
Oleksiy Sharan, in turn, assured that he would not transfer any church property to anyone. And he will not allow anyone to conduct an inventory, the story says.
"Of course, I won't transfer anything. If there's anything you dislike about that, you can go to court. I will not be present at the transfer of property either. And no one will be present. My personal belongings are here. You will not conduct any inventory here.
I am the head of the community of a legal entity. I demand that you leave the church," Sharan repeated over and over again and tried in every possible way to push people out of the church.
Те, що 90% релігійної громади села захотіли приєднатися до ПЦУ, для нього нічого не означає, зазначає видання. The priest of the Moscow Patriarchate then suggested that people build another church. And here, they say, he is the owner. And if parishioners do not want to go to his services, then they have no place in the religious community, according to him.
"I didn't do anything wrong. I don't know. I want to know myself because I do not know," Sharan said.
In the late afternoon, priests and parishioners of the UOC-MP from the surrounding villages began to gather under the gates of the church. The rhetoric is the same as Sharan's: build yourself another temple.
The religious community is confident that it was 'titushkas' who arrived, so they were not allowed to enter the territory of the temple.
Lawyer Mykola Sorokopud is confident that Sharan simply does not allow people to realize their will.
"He's manipulating with words. He doesn't have any documents. We asked him to read the charter out: he also doesn't have it. He speaks and behaves as he sees fit. However, this is not based on the law. I talked to him, tried to prove something to him. But he doesn't want to hear anyone or anything.
He just keeps saying: "I... I..." I'm the only one here. Everything will be, as I say. This is an authoritarian person. He reminds me of the president of Russia in some ways. Maybe he takes an example from him. Or something else," said Sorokopud.
He said that the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations" was amended last year, which allow the community to gather not at the convocation of the priest or rector of the church, but themselves.
"So they gathered themselves and solved their pressing problems and conflict," the lawyer said.
In the end, the priests failed to get people out of the church. The clergy did not want to leave it either. They stubbornly stood their ground: they are the owners here. And so on all day. Priests sang church prayers, and people waited — some in the temple, and others at the gate.
People spent the night in the church until morning. At 8: 00 the next day, Oleksiy Sharan still left the church and gave the keys.
Now the church is sealed until the conflict is resolved.