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March 18, 2015. The church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in Milcha village of Dubensky district (Rivne region, Ukraine) was taken over by the Kiev Patriarchate as reports UNIAN. The secretary of Rivne diocese Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) archpriest Vitaliy Guerlinskiy mentioned that “the church was captured by numerous group of unknown people. A group of people came to the village at 8 a.m. There were also 5 representatives of clergy of the Kiev Patriarchate. The total number was about 100 people, most of them were non-residents of the village. A group of people broke a door of the church that belongs to the UOC MP. They occupied the building and held a worship service. The members of UOC MP community from the village gathered around the church, people from the district and region also came there.”

The representatives of the local authorities sealed the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God at about 3 p.m., till court decision. The secretary of the diocese adds: “It would be more reasonable if both religious communities had come to the agreement to solve the problem in the juridical way. However it seems that the occupies do not rush to the court. They used raider methods as grinders and crowbars. As far as the church is sealed the worships of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be held outside the church or in the parish building.”

The secretary of the Kiev Patriarchate archbishop Evstratiy Zorya made comments on this occasion at his page in Facebook as reports UNIAN. He wrote that enquiry of residents on ownership of the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God was initiated by local community of UOC MP. Evstratiy Zorya considers: “By free vote 90% of the community voted in favor of the Kiev Patriarchate. The church belongs to local community on the right of ownership. So on the basis of community’s decision the executive committee of local council made a decision to allocate the church on community of the Kiev Patriarchate. The community addressed the archbishop Hillarion to appoint a priest. The priest arrived today, the community was waiting in the church, and the Christ’s passions were celebrated. There was no conflict or violation.”

In his turn the secretary of Rivne diocese of the OUC MP archpriest Vitaliy Guerlinskiy doesn’t agree with words of Evstratiy Zorya. Father Vitaliy Guerlinskiy emphasizes: “The statement of Evstratiy Zorya about the ownership of the church by the local community on the right of ownership is very strange. Once again the representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate equate religious community to a local one, disorienting common people. So called referendums initiated by representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate are nothing but public opinion poll that has no legal force. On the basis of these referendums representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate “transfer” the churches under its jurisdiction. The truth is that the Kiev Patriarchate keeps silence on how they do it. Methods are always the same – grinders in hands of people. For me as for most of orthodox people today’s event is nothing but force takeover.”

The secretary of Rivne diocese believes that the conflict is provoked by the local authorities in Milcha which support representatives of the Kiev Patriarchate preaching “national church”. He also emphasized that there was no answer to the complaints made by UOC MP to the state and law enforcement authorities. Father Vitaliy confirms: “Precisely this indifference from the side of the authorities is the reason of these unpunished raider takeovers of UOC churches.”