UOC bishop leads Paschal service for persecuted parish in Verkhni Stanivtsi
The community whose church was seized by radicals on Lazarus Saturday celebrated Pascha with Bishop Nikita of Ivano-Frankivsk.
The parish of St. Nicholas in the Bukovynian village of Verkhni Stanivtsi, whose church was forcibly taken over by OCU clergy just before Holy Week, held its Paschal service together with Bishop Nikita of Ivano-Frankivsk, the community told the UOJ.
The service took place in a local café, offered for this purpose by one of the parishioners.
Despite the difficult circumstances, around 150 faithful gathered for the service with their Paschal baskets. In his sermon, Bishop Nikita noted that the large number of believers in attendance testified that “the people of Verkhni Stanivtsi understand where the true Church is.”
In his address to the faithful, the bishop drew a parallel with the early Christians: “The first Christians prayed not only at the graves of their departed. They celebrated the Liturgy in forests, wherever they could. Very often, they prayed in places where sacrifices had previously been offered not to the true God, but to idols.”
The bishop expressed hope that those who are currently unlawfully occupying the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra “will soften their hearts, come to understand the truth, and return to the fold of the true Church.”
He also called on the parishioners to remain faithful to the Church despite all hardships, and to “truly understand Christ’s Resurrection and the events that preceded it, remembering the terrible sacrifice Christ made on the Cross for all sinful humanity.”
Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Verkhni Stanivtsi, Metropolitan Meletiy consecrated a space for the persecuted community.
As a reminder, OCU clergy managed to seize the Church of St. Nicholas in Verkhnye Stanivtsi only with police assistance. The takeover occurred on April 12, Lazarus Saturday. A previous attempt, carried out by OCU cleric R. Hryshchuk and his associates on the night of April 8–9, failed when parishioners drove them out of the church.
