UOC priest: Catholics and Uniates cannot decide the fate of our community

On August 21, 2022, it took Priest Tarasiy Kavulya a few minutes to explain to the participants of the meeting in the Kolybaivka club of the Khmelnytskyi region why they do not have the authority to transfer his church to the OCU. The rector of the Transfiguration community posted the video of his speech, as well as his follow-up comments, on his Facebook page.

Father Tarasiy stated that, according to the provisions of the Statute of the UOC religious community, "such meetings can be held only by the religious community." However, according to the priest, there were Catholics, Uniates and the "clergy" of the OCU who have nothing to do with the Transfiguration community of the UOC.

He reminded that members of the religious community are the people who regularly attend services, confess and receive communion, actively participate in the life of the parish and are in canonical obedience to the priest. According to Fr. Tarasiy, only 2-3 attendees of the meeting met these requirements.

Archpriest Tarasiy informed those present that a community meeting had already been held at the Transfiguration Parish on June 2, where all parishioners unanimously voted to remain under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Each member of the community confirmed his decision with a signature, a protocol was drawn up following the results of the meeting, which was approved by the ruling bishop of the Kamyanets-Podilsky diocese. The protocol was signed by 137 people. At the same time, the authorities were able to gather only 90 people for a meeting in the club, even taking into account the invited residents of other villages.

As the UOJ reported, on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the parishioners of the church in the village of Kolybaivka testified their loyalty to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.