In Rivne the Kyiv Patriarchate didn’t let the priest and the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church enter the cemetery.
May 4, 2016. The activists of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) threatened with throwing the car belonging to a priest into the river if he tried to perform a memorial service at the graves of deceased relatives of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), as reports press-service of UOC.
On May 4 in the village of Kamenica, Dubno district, Rivne region the supporters of the “Kyiv Patriarchate” – locals and radically-minded men from the district center – blocked the passage to the cemetery so that the priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church couldn’t enter, as reported by the Information – Educational Department of the UOC, with reference to the press-service of the Rivne diocese.
The priest was prevented from performing a memorial service on the graves of deceased relatives of the UOC believers.
As the Rivne eparchy informs, at the request of the parishioners of the UOC the Archpriest John Savchuk, Prior of the Holy Protection Church in the neighboring village of Podluzie, came to the village of Kamenica. On the road he came across a crowd of aggressive people, who demanded to leave the village and not to go to the cemetery, threatened him with throwing his car into the river.
The locals don’t have their own church, therefore they have to go to a church in the neighboring village because in the nineties the “Kyiv Patriarchate” “transferred” under its own jurisdiction the church that was just founded.
The UOC believer Maria, who came to pray for the souls of her loved ones, states that the current situation is beyond common sense.
“We were allowed to enter the cemetery, but the priest wasn’t. Arguing that there is a priest in the village, he is the one who should pray for the repose. This is a blasphemy on their part, because the supporters of Kyiv Patriarchate are well aware that we have our own view on this issue”, – she said.
Entrance to the village cemetery was blocked for several hours by dissenters. In the meantime, the local authorities and police remained on the sidelines, not suppressing illegal actions of the activists of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate.
In order to pray for the repose of the souls of the dead villagers, the priest and the faithful of the UOC served requiem in the middle of the road.
Photo documents from press-service of the Rivne diocese
