Kiev Patriarchate and the Right Sector are planning to seize a church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kinahovtsy (Ukraine)
March 5, 2017 – Assailants from the “Right Sector” along with members from the Kiev Patriarchate have once again tried to capture the Church of Peter and Paul of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). However, the fact that the church had many parish members inside served as a deterrence for further aggression. The assailants left without achieving their goals.
Two days prior, the assailants tried to conduct a referendum inside the village which they wanted to use as a pretext for capturing the church. The assailants claimed a supposed “87%” success ratio for the transfer of the church in the village. It turned out that only 59 people voted, with many not even being resident of Kinahovtsy. As for the rector of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Father Vitaliy Gureva, he collected signatures from the parish members to support the church.
“The security firm we hired in Kiev, along with the determination of our parish members, which spend nights inside the church, has forced the assailants to abandon ideas of a forced takeover”, said Father Vitaliy. Now, according to him, the believers are threatened with seizure through the “legal way”, that is, re-registration of the parish of the UOC.
The church is the only canonical one in the vicinity, with many Kiev Patriarchate parishes existing not far away.
The believers of the UOC, of the village Kinahovtsy, have contacted the law enforcement agencies, along with the authorities, with the goal of further protecting their rights.
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