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March 17, 2019 – Archbishop of Vinnitsa Varasnophy (the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox  Church¹) reports in his facebook page: “All Vinnitsa media write about the fact that the door (of the church- ed.) was broken down  and a glass was smashed in Luka Meleshkovskoy. But it all started with the fact that they (supporters of the OCU² – ed.) locked father Vassiliy, the rector, inside the church, and against me, the ruling bishop, a physical force was used. I came alone to the representatives of the OCU to talk, in order to understand their positions and claims against me, but unfortunately no one wanted to listen. When Chirkun, a priest of bishop Simyon³, arrived, he gave the order to throw me out of the church’s yard. [..] Physical force was applied against me and I was pushed aside to the fence. Father Vassiliy and the parishioners in the church saw it and opened the door by force, damaging the doors and the glass. I made a cutting of the main points to show how it all happened. I will describe and post more videos later.”

Visual Testimony:

Sources:

1. Archbishop Varsanophy’s facebook page – post of 17 March 2019
2. UOC Vinnitsa Diocese’s official website – 17 March 2019, “Warning! False information has been disseminated!”

Related Publications:

• March 19, 2019 – Public prayers were disrupted by the aggressive mob that broke into a church after the liturgy in Kiev Region.
• March 14, 2019 – Interview with victims of the recent seizure of a Holy Protection Church and with Brian S. Brown, a president of the World Congress of Families, who visited the place of the incident.
• March 10, 2019 – Sunday Divine Liturgy was prevented and the church hijacked in the presence of Local Authorities and the police.

1. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) is an autonomous Orthodox Church with the headquarter in Kiev, Ukraine. It is spiritually and canonically linked with the Russian Orthodox Church.
2. Orthodox Church of Ukraine is a religious organization that was formed with an aid of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine and with non-canonical actions of the Constantinople Patriarchate at the end of 2018. So far, none of the canonical Orthodox Churches has recognised this organization as an Orthodox Church.
3. Bishop Semyon is a former bishop of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.