The Diocese of Zhytomyr of the UOC-MP instructed priests to collect signatures of parishioners against the law on renaming this church, while telling people a completely different reason for collecting signatures.
Religiyna Pravda got this information from its competent sources.
So, during the service, this Sunday, February 14, the priest of the Holy Cross Church in Zhytomyr announced to the audience that it was necessary to collect signatures in support of the church, since the Russian Orthodox Church allegedly wants to take the church.
It is noteworthy that in 2018, the rector of this church, Serhiy Hrytsayuk, was searched by the SBU and the National Police in the case of inciting inter-religious hatred, in particular, the distribution of literature with calls for the "Russian World". The property seized from Hrytsayuk was further arrested.
The RP interlocutor added that before Sunday's events, a meeting was held in the church in the Diocese of the UOC-MP, during which all clergy were given the forms-an appeal to the president of Ukraine and the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada from the religious communities of the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate against the law that requires changes to the statutory documents, namely the re-registration of communities indicating the spiritual center of the church entity (in this case subordination to Moscow).
Priests were instructed to collect signatures of parishioners under various pretexts and personally send appeals with signatures to the president of Ukraine and the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, and provide a photo report on the work done to the diocese.
Therefore, the situation in the Holy Cross Church in Zhytomyr demonstrates how the clergy resorted to manipulation and came up with an absurd story that the Russian Orthodox Church allegedly wants to take the church from the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, so we urgently need to collect signatures to prevent this.
It is noteworthy that some clergy had internal resistance and rejection of the instructions of the highest church leadership. An internal conflict is brewing.
It is not yet known under what pretext signatures are being collected in other parishes. But it is likely that the clergy can come up with other stories, inform the faithful about one intention, and after collecting signatures, substitute a completely different appeal sheet and submit it for the truth.
"Will the signatures of deceived parishioners then be found somewhere under the lists of those who want to inject themselves with the Russian vaccine (they say they have already run out of people for experiments), or somewhere under the lists of granting another land plot in the center of Zhytomyr for Mr. (Metropolitan) Nikodim?" asks the interlocutor of the RP.
In this situation, clergymen and parishioners who reported on the situation in the Zhytomyr Diocese of the UOC-MP want their names not to be mentioned because they are afraid of threats and persecution by the church leadership.
It should also be noted that the leadership of the Diocese of the UOC-MP noted that where there are conflict situations related to the transition of communities, signatures cannot be collected.
Recall that after receiving the Tomos, about 40 parishes of the UOC-MP in Zhytomyr region were transferred to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. At the same time, priests and parishioners received threats, both in person and via SMS messages. Cases were opened against those who threatened, but later, without notifying the injured party, these cases were quietly closed.