UOC believers in Zabolotye pray outdoors after church seizure
On May 16, the religious community of the UOC of Zabolotye gathered for the divine service, though their church and the adjoining territory are outside the access zone.
In the village of Zabolotye, Rivne region, where after the violent seizure of the temple by supporters of the OCU, law enforcement officers sealed the religious building, the UOC believers prayed outside the church fence, in the open air, reports a UOJ correspondent.
On May 16, the religious community of the UOC decided to gather for a divine service, although their church and the entire territory of the temple has been out of the access zone since May 10: everything is locked, law enforcement officers are guarding around the clock.
“To avoid any provocations, the priest decided not to announce the service, we just passed it on to each other personally,” says Mikhail Hnidko, the headman of the religious community.
Despite the fears, the believers say that the service was held calmly and under the close supervision of law enforcement officers, who were three times as many that day.
“For a week, the temple has been guarded by one police car and one squad, and today three cars and three squads of law enforcement officers have arrived. Throughout the service, the guys stood at attention, some were baptized, some were not, but we think that everyone was praying,” says Svetlana Sviridiuk, a parishioner of the UOC of St. John the Theological Church in the village of Zabolotye.
In total, more than 150 believers of the UOC came to the Sunday service. During the service, two choirs sang: male and female, and a prayer service was held in honor of the feast of the Myrrh-Bearing Women.
As the believers of the canonical Church testify, for two years the OCU has not performed divine services on the territory of the village.
Earlier in Bokhoniki, the hierarch of the UOC held an open-air Liturgy with the persecuted community.
