Bishop Filaret (Kucherov) of Lviv and Halych of the UOC (MP) expressed outrage with the methods of transfer of the Holy Protection Church of the UOC (MP) to the UOC-KP. He said the congregation had no desire to move to another denomination, but the ‘rebels’ ignored it.
This opinion was expressed by the hierarch in his commentary published on the website of the Diocese of Lviv of the UOC (MP).
The hierarch said that on September 7, a meeting of the Orthodox congregation took place, "during which despite the protests of the parishioners of the Holy Protection Church, it was decided to vote on the transfer of the temple under jurisdiction of the UOC-KP.”
The vote took place on September 14, but the congregation refused to vote and drove the rebels out of the church yard.
"It is clear that the vote, in which occasional passers-by participated, led to a result expected by the so-called activists," he wrote.
"The event reached its critical point September 28, when unknown aggressive men led by the same initiators did not let the priest and faithful into the church building. In the morning the door locks were locked and the gate was blocked with chains. The church was encircled by persons who had never been its parishioners. A priest of Turka deanery got his nose broken with a bottle in a cram,” said the bishop.
Bishop of Lviv and Halych notes that all these activities took place under the supervision of the police, “who defended criminals and pushed away legitimate owners of the church building, thereby helping the rebels.”
The Kyivan Patriarchate argues that the transfer of the congregation of the Holy Protection Church from one jurisdiction to another took place within the law and with the full consent of the community. Archbishop Yakiv (Makarchuk) of Drohobych and Sambir of the UOC-KP commented for RISU that the statement of Bishop Filaret (Kucherov) was not true.
“The parish expressed a desire to go to the UOC-KP. They had a meeting, warned of the vote and informed Bishop Filaret. All their legal and religious acts were correct. Therefore what Filaret writes is a lie,” said Bishop Yakiv.
Archbishop Drohobych and Sambir of the UOC-KP says that the parishioners of Holy Protection Church have come up to him four times. He met with them, answered their questions.
"Most people prefer the UOC-KP now, they have collected about 300 signatures and even those who hesitated, yesterday sided with the majority,” said the archbishop. “We do not want this situation to escalate, and the Russians took advantage of this event. We quietly communicate in God with everyone, and if people want to come to us, we have full right to accept them.
As RISU has already reported, recently there has been a wave of transitions of the parishes of the UOC (MP) to the Kyivan Patriarchate. This process develops especially actively in the west of the state, including the native village of the current Primate of the UOC (MP), where a part of the congregation decided to leave the Moscow Patriarchate.