In Volyn town, activists want to arrange vote for temple "by registration"

The Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the town of Kamen-Kashirsky of the Volyn region

In the town of Kamen-Kashirsky of the Volyn region, activists intend to hold a “secret vote” on March 25 for the transfer of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos to the OCU.

The uniqueness of the situation is that the announcement included a specific list of streets whose residents, according to the initiators, can vote for the change of jurisdiction of the parish. At the same time, there are houses on the list whose residents are not eligible to vote.

“Only adult people living within the parish can participate in voting. In particular, in the streets: Volia, Yevgeny Karanovich (Kuznetsov), S. Melnik, Tsirskaya, Fermskaya, Shabliovsky, Ostrovnaya, Chkalov (except for house number 11), Suvorov, Malaya, Druzhnaya (Koshevoi), Khmelnitsky, Vatutin, Okruzhnaya, Soglasia, Yaroslav the Wise, Porichanskaya, Grushevsky, Stus, Gaevaya, Novaya Volia, Vostochnaya, Vasiliy Kmetsinsky, in the lanes of the above streets and Magdeburg (Kuznetsov), Komarov lanes,” the activists said.

As the rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos of the UOC Archpriest Yuri Mikhailov told the UOJ, the initiative to transfer, “by registration” in particular, caused indignation in the community. The most interesting thing is that he himself lives in another district of the town and, therefore, being even the prior, will not be allowed to “vote”.

The community of the church appealed to the law enforcement authorities with a statement that a possible violation of the law is being prepared for the believers of the UOC.

As it became known, the “initiative group” include the former community head Leonid Dregel, who may be dissatisfied with the fact that at the recent community meeting they chose another person to replace him, as well as the deputy mayor of Kamen-Kashirsky Nikolai Shvorak, former employees of military commissariat and the police and a few others. Which of them came up with the original initiative to arrange a vote by registration and how they determined the sector in the district center, to which the parish is assigned, is unknown.

According to the rector, the topic of the OCU was raised with these people a few weeks ago and even earlier, starting on October 11, 2018. However, then the community decided that if the new church organization was recognized by other Local Churches, they would discuss this topic. While there is no recognition, the “initiative group”, without losing time, allegedly gained several hundred signatures in the town in its support, and also began to actively attend Divine services in the “noted” church. In order to be safe, the religious community activists, without leaving the temple, has already collected in its support 945 signatures among the parishioners.

Archpriest Yuri Mikhailov is a volunteer known in the region, who has repeatedly been in a combat zone with the support of his fellow countrymen mobilized in the AFU. Interestingly, the “initiative group” for the transfer to the OCU has already told him that as it turns out he was nowhere “further than the first roadblock”.

Kamen-Kashirasky district is located in the Polessye area, in which the new church initiatives are weakly supported, the parishes of the UOC, as well as the communities of the Protestant churches, traditionally function here.  In this area, starting from December 2018, OCU supporters have so far succeeded in seizing only one temple in the village of Bronitsa (Krymno), two more rectors of the UOC in the villages of Rakov Les and Nuyno transferred to the new organization and were banned. Despite the schism, the UOC communities have survived here.

As the UOJ reported, earlier in Odessa, representatives of the UOC KP took over the UOC KP temple: the scandal around the cathedral of the UOC KP is gaining momentum: “bishop” Pavel expelled the rector for the commemoration of “patriarch” Filaret and sent “titushki” (tough guys) with brass knuckles to the temple.

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