For the First Time in 300 Years an Orthodox Church Closed in the Village of Grybovytsia

On October 4 it’s two weeks since in the village Grybovytsia, Ivanychi district, Volyn region, the local Orthodox church of Intercession of the Holy Virgin was shut down because of the scandal on behalf of the Kyiv Patriarchate community. The locals say this happened for the first time in 300 years since a chapel was built in Grybovytsia for Orthodox worship. This land has survived several wars and occupations, however, even under Nazi regime the priests crowned, baptized and read a burial service in the church. What are the faithful of the Orthodox community getting prepared for now?

Let’s recall the events: on September 20, interrupting Sunday service, some people who called themselves the Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate community, supposedly new owners of the religious building, went into the church. After the quarrel and aggression recorded by cameras, the Orthodox community, and their "rivals" were forced to leave the church, which at the request of a law enforcement body was shut down and sealed. Since then senior priest of Intercession of the Holy Virgin Church Igor Margita has been ministering in his own home - a house located near the church yard. Of course, it is also a tempting prey as the registered here cleric did not privatize it. However, by law it will be impossible to deprive the priest’s family with two minor children of the right to live in it.

Apart from loud claims for the church, representatives of the Kyiv Patriarchate did not provide any evidence of their ownership. It is not surprising, as the senior priest of the church in the village of Grybovytsia officially registered the right of the land use in the name of the UOC community, and signed a protection agreement for the chapel built in the churchyard at the end of XIX century.

The UOC community in the village is registered and operates on a legal basis; the service did not stop even after a nasty incident on September 20. The most interesting thing is that a lot of the UOC-KP followers, who initially supported such jurisdiction of the rural community, after the scandal in the church distanced from what is happening in Grybovytsia now. As for the church itself, it is a state property, but it is in land use by the local rural community, which is at the same time the UOC cell.

There were no clear and valid grounds for closing the church. There is no decision to terminate the worship and re-register the user, actually nothing. The only argument is to stop the aggression of the raiders, who are still quite active, saying in the eye of the UOC believers that they "provoke them to violent seizure."

In addition, the raiders managed to replace the core lock in church doors for no clear reason. The church property is inventoried, every kilowatt of electricity consumed is accounted, by permission of architects the roof has been renovated. All this is not only the contribution of the community, but of the priest himself, who has served here for 17 years. Then, in 1998, on October 4, the faithful of Grybovytsia community just got a new cleric. By the way, Fr. Igor, quite young then, was transferred to this parish to defuse ... conflict the community had with the previous priest. Villagers say he was neither the first nor the last one who wasn’t given a possibility to serve in the village.

Representatives of the UOC community say they do not want to hear anything about a force scenario, considering what has happened in the church. Meanwhile they keep coming to worship to Fr. Igor’s house. A further course of events is unclear. The community of the UOC-KP has not provided any documents, which would give at least some ground to claim for something. Interestingly, the church positions in the KP are all assigned already. Even a secretary of the local council, a woman who had lost a relative in the ATO, was enrolled as a member of the KP community.

Now the village council and candidates are getting ready for the elections, therefore, present leaders of Grybovytsia community have got a good "lightning rod." The Kyiv Patriarchate has already appointed their superior, though the priest of the UOC-KP from Novovolynsk Fr. Vitaly Golian has his own parish and is unlikely to come to Grybovytsia. It’s hardly possible to evict the priest from his house. But it’s quite possibly to prevent people from gathering for worship and persecute them in the village – so "worthy" of busy "activists" who now say the elderly in the eye that it is now "their" church. It happened so that men who dodged the draft (this was even reported in regional media) have found an opportunity to show their patriotism in an alternative way.

However, taking into account the fact that law enforcement officials make it clear that church raiding will lead to a real criminal case, we can assume - all ends in nothing.

Updated Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 17:49