UOC KP members picket Rivne Administration

On January 12, over a hundreds of believers of the UOC-KP in Dubno district of Rivne region demanded that the Regional State Administration recognize as illegal the transfer of the church premises in Ptycha to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) that took place in 1996.

According to Radio Liberty, the people broke through security and demanded a meeting with the head of Rivne Regional State Administration Vitaliy Chuhunnikov.

On arrival of the RSA chairman, the parishioners and priests of the UOC-KP held a closed meeting with him, the purpose of which, according to Vitaliy Chuhunnikov, was to find a legal way to allow parishioners of the Kyivan Patriarchate to use the premises of the temple by turns with the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).

Vitaliy Chuhunnikov believes that in Ptycha “there is no conflict between the congregations, but there is a conflict of interest between the two Churches.” The official noted that the administration “has no power to make any decisions on private property.”

Instead, Dubno Dean Ihor Zahrebelny said that his faithful were not demanding the church premises, but only the right to use them.

The conflict in Ptycha over the church building lasts for over a year