In Novaya Moshchanitsa believers of seized UOC temple gather for worship
In Novaya Moshchanitsa, the UOC believers gathered for a divine service in a suited house after the supporters of the “holy church” in Ukraine had grabbed their temple.
As it became known to the UOJ, about 50 people came to the divine service on March 3.
The confrontation at the church of the Nativity of the Virgin of the village of Novaya Moshchanitsa, Zdolbunov district, continued until 12:00 at night on March 2. Sergey Kondrachuk, the chairman of the Zdolbunov District State Administration, , provoked and supported the religious conflict, who showed up with a group of activists immediately after the service and, pushing aside the UOC church believers, took over the construction.
The official comments on his Facebook page: “By agreement and instructions from the local community, I want to thank all those who late last night, after reading my Facebook post, immediately came to Novaya Moshchanitsa to support the community and get rid of the intruders. Together we are the power!!!"
Locals say that two buses with representatives of the Right Sector, as well as a large number of drunken men, local residents and outsiders, arrived to reinforce the OCU supporters.
Law enforcement officers, led by the head of the Zdolbunov police station S. Smagliuk, did not intervene in the conflict, only kept watching.
When it got dark, the UOC believers began the prayer standing in front of the entrance to the captured church, together with nuns from Derman and Gorodok nunneries who had come to support them.
All the time while the believers were praying, negotiations continued between representatives of the Rovno Eparchy of the UOC and the chairman of the Zdolbunov Regional State Administration. According to the eyewitnesses, they failed to reach an agreement.
On Sunday, March 3, believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Novaya Moshchanitsa prayed in a hut, while the OCU supporters did it in the seized church.
As the UOJ reported, earlier the NGO Public Advocacy published a legal video instruction on how to protect a church from the raider seizure.
