A priest of the Kyiv Patriarchate attempted to provoke the capture of a church belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).

March 15, 2016. In Ivanopol village of Chudnovski region (Ukraine), a priest of the Kyiv Patriarchate attempted to incite the residents to capture a church belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This action was, however, prevented through the joint efforts of the local authorities and the representatives of the UOC. The present information was provided by the archpriest Stephan Perig, responsible for the settlement of interfaith conflicts in Zhitomir, as the website uoj reports.

According to Father Sptephan, the priest of the UOC-KP, ‘Father Ivan’ initiated a collection of signatures ‘to associate the UOC community with the Kyiv Patriarchate’ under the latter’s legislation. Furthermore, he proposed that not only the residents of the relevant village put their signatures, but also the residents of other localities. These actions of the priest provoked the indignation of the UOC community, which resulted in a conflict.

Village residents, the representatives of both communities and the local authorities met on March 11 to discuss the issue of the foundation of the community of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the property rights over the cathedral of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. After the general discussion, the representatives of both communities come together in the office of the head of the village council where they reached a consensus.

Believers of the Kyiv Patriarchate, except several aggressive speeches, accepted not to try to take the cathedral from the UOC community and to build a new one. The village council will allocate a piece of land for this purpose; the UOC community in turn will provide the possible support to the construction.