In Odessa, the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not allow UOC believers into their own church because of schismatics and Uniates
The leadership of the Odessa Military Academy refused to allow UOC believers to hold a service in the church in honor of Saints Cyril and Methodius, located on the territory of the university.
Major Bohdan Cheremushenko, a representative of the academy's leadership, stated that security measures had been strengthened at the university due to "combat training" and did not allow believers into the church belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a PolitNavigator correspondent reported.
“I don’t have the authority to show anyone anything. I'm worried about your safety. The situation in Ukraine is difficult. We are afraid, and when we are afraid, we begin to move... You cannot pray today in the temple of God due to the conduct of combat training and the educational process on the territory of the academy,” the major said.
The ban on believers visiting the temple, according to one of the priests, is due to the fact that today military chaplains of Uniates and schismatics from the unrecognized Kyiv Patriarchate arrived at the academy, who intend to conduct their service in the temple belonging to the canonical UOC.
“We represent Metropolitan Agafangel. At one time, when this military unit was disbanded and transferred to Lviv, it was Metropolitan Agafangel who defended it with an appeal to the president, the Verkhovna Rada, and the prime minister. And thanks to his authority and appeal, the military unit in which you now have the honor of serving has been revived. And Vladyka Metropolitan always hung in a place of honor, as the person who preserved this military facility. And today it is paradoxical that representatives of the person thanks to whom this military facility exists to this day are not allowed into the temple that he consecrated,” the priest said.
He also noted that today schismatics could seize the temple.
“We understand why today. Only because representatives of other faiths intended to serve in the church that belongs to us today. This is our temple, consecrated by us, our utensils there, purchased by us, this temple was painted by us... Chaplains are present today from all over Ukraine. These are Greek Catholics and the “Kiev Patriarchate”. They were the ones who wanted to serve there today,” the priest emphasized.
Representatives of the Odessa diocese of the UOC intend to appeal today's ban and report this to the OSCE.
Earlier, the so-called patriarch of the "Kiev Patriarchate," Filaret, which is not recognized in the Orthodox world, stated that if the Patriarch of Constantinople recognizes Ukrainian autocephaly, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will lose the Kiev-Pechersk and Pochayiv Lavras, as well as all its churches.
“When the Ukrainian Church is recognized here, the Lavra - both one and the other - will be transferred to the Ukrainian Church. Because this is a Ukrainian shrine. Both Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate have nothing to do with these shrines. And those parishes that built their churches at their own expense, then this is the property of these parishes, and not of Russia. Therefore, Russia does not have its own church property here,” the head of the schismatics threatened.