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Schismatics seize the church in Belashov village of Rovno region

Schismatics seize the church in Belashov village of Rovno region
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23 May 2022 year 10:38

The OCU supporters re-registered the local community of the Holy Trinity church in the village of Belashov, Rovno region. On May 21, 2022, they provoked a clash in the territory of the church and took the keys to the church by force, the Union of Orthodox Journalists reports.

According to Archpriest Valery Ponorchuk, the rector of the church, the events began to develop the day before. “I was summoned by Ms Natalia Timoschuk, the head of the community. She had with her representatives of the newly created OCU community who had documents for the church prepared at the village meeting."

He added that the OCU representatives had demanded the keys to the church, but the priest did not have them.

The next day, the raiders came to the church territory with the same demand – to give them the keys. A conflict developed, parishioners called the police. The faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church said that the OCU activists had seized the keys from the church warden.

The schismatics gave twenty-four hours to the rector and his family to vacate the church house in which they had been living for about twenty years.

For a whole month, the OCU supporters have been creating a tense situation in Belashov, launching regular threats against the rector, his family and parishioners.

DECR Communication Service/Patriarchia.ru

Version: Russian, Ukrainian