In the city of Bila Tserkva, Kiev region, militants of the PCU broke down the doors and seized the cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
This was reported in the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, reports the correspondent of “PolitNavigator”.
The attack occurred around six in the morning, when a group of people entered the territory of the Transfiguration Cathedral. They tried to break the steel door of the cathedral for three hours, using a chainsaw, a bolt saw and a sledgehammer.
While the door was being broken in, a group of athletic-looking people blocked the entrance to the cathedral, preventing the quickly gathered parishioners from entering. Ten minutes later, the police arrived and did not prevent the seizure, but instead helped to block the cathedral’s territory.
The seizure was led by the PCUush pop deputy Nikolai Gopainich.
As a result, after three hours of confrontation, the PCU supporters together with their leader from the PCU stormed into the temple, where they were met by a tight jet from a fire extinguisher – one of the UOC ministers, who were in the building, did not want to surrender the shrine without a fight.
It is reported that during the seizure there was a scuffle between the schismatics and parishioners of the UOC, as a result of which one woman’s arm was broken.
Metropolitan of Bila Tserkva and Bohuslavl Augustyn explained what had happened and called it lawlessness. He explained that the cathedral and the adjacent territories were transferred to the PCU by the decision of the local city council, but the UOC diocese did not agree with it.
This is illegal – both the decision of the city council and the way it is happening. Whether someone likes it or not, but there is an order. And this, what is happening, we will oppose.
Someone says that we should unite [with the PCU]… Who should we unite with? Even when something happens in a family, between relatives, or in a collective, a truce is needed first for dialog. but here?It is simply unbelievable,” the Metropolitan said.